Middle-aged women are under just as much pressure to be thin, and may be just as likely as teenage girls and young women to suffer from eating disorders, according to new research from Australia.

Dr. Stephen Touyz and his colleagues at the University of Sydney studied older women who have been suffering from eating disorders for more than seven years. Most of them were reluctant to talk about their problems.

"People who fall into this particular category are not in treatment because they are too scared to seek help and because getting better means putting on weight," said Dr. Touyz. "It's not that there are not enough people suffering, it is that they continue to suffer in silence -- in some cases for decades."

About 30 percent of people with anorexia nervosa, who are not diagnosed as teenagers, continue to have the disorder throughout their lives.

Posted By: CRC Health