AUDIO VISUAL LINK As London fashion week begins there is concern about the effect 'thinspirational' websites have on anorexic people.

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Link ID: 9962 - Posted: 02.13.2007

By Sarah Waldron As the government attacks "fashion and the tyranny of thinness" for undermining the confidence of girls, experts are seeing younger and younger children with eating disorders. But blaming stick-thin models might be too simplistic. Rhodes Farm is a clinic dealing with children suffering from anorexia nervosa. Opened 16 years ago, it has seen the average age of clients drop and children as young as eight are now being treated. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has pledged to tackle "the cult of size zero" by establishing a task force with fashion leaders, but for many girls at the clinic the issue is more about control. Twelve-year-old Natasha was admitted to Rhodes Farm after her weight fell to less than four-and-a-half stone. She says the furore over "size zero" models and celebrities has nothing to do with why she stopped eating. "[The media's] story is people get anorexia because they want to be thin and they see other people in magazines and on the catwalk and they think 'I want to be like that'," she says. "That's a really good story and why would they change it - it's a perfect story. But it's not the truth. Maybe for some people it is, but I know that for me it's not. I haven't got anorexia because I've been inspired to look like other people. It's the image in my head. There's no one that's my idol. (C)BBC

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Link ID: 9905 - Posted: 01.31.2007

Families do not cause anorexia nervosa

PITTSBURGH, -- Misstatements and ignorance claiming that families "cause" eating disorders is like blaming parents for diabetes or asthma or cancer says an international group of eating disorders researchers. Recent damaging statements by fashion model Gisele Bundchen stating that unsupportive families cause anorexia nervosa only perpetuate misconceptions and further stigmatize eating disorders. Contrary to her claim, there is no scientific evidence that families cause anorexia nervosa. In fact, the researchers are finding that anorexia nervosa is far more complex than simply wanting to be slim to achieve some fashionable slender ideal. The data show that anorexia nervosa has a strong genetic component that may be the root cause of this illness. "An uninformed opinion such as Bundchen's causes harm on a number of levels. By contributing to the stigma, it drives sufferers underground and creates obstacles to seeking help. It damages attempts at advocacy and hurts parents who are desperately fighting for their child's recovery," said Allan S. Kaplan, M.D., Loretta Anne Rogers Chair in Eating Disorders at the University of Toronto. "Such thinking also misinforms third party payors who may not want to pay for the treatment of these biologically-based illnesses if they think its primary cause is family dysfunction." Dr. Kaplan is a member of the international group of researchers attempting to find which genes contribute to anorexia nervosa through a National Institute of Mental Health-funded study of families with a history of anorexia nervosa. The current study, which is being conducted at 10 sites across the world, hopes to further clarify which genes play a role in anorexia nervosa. The study builds on data from ten years of groundbreaking research on the genetics of eating disorders sponsored by the Price Foundation.

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Link ID: 9864 - Posted: 01.23.2007

Hormone balance clue to bulimia

The binge-eating disorder bulimia may, in some cases, be linked to a sex hormone imbalance, research suggests. Bulimia is normally viewed as a mental condition and treated with psychological therapies. However, Dr Sabine Naessén, from the Karolinska Institutet suggests some women with the condition may have too much of the male hormone testosterone. Half the bulimics treated for this imbalance reported less hunger, and fewer cravings for fatty, sugary food. Dr Naessén claims that three out of 21 bulimics treated this way became completely free of the eating disorder. Bulimia involves compulsive overeating, and is probably the most common form of eating disorder. It is approximately 10 times more common in women as men. Normal treatments involve cognitive behavioural therapy, psychological counselling which looks to uncover deep-rooted causes for problems. Antidepressants are often prescribed for the illness. However, some outward signs of hormonal imbalance were apparent in a group of 77 bulimics examined by Dr Naessén. The bulimics were more likely to report menstrual problems, excess body hair, and polycystic ovarian syndrome than women without the eating disorder. The theory was tested in 21 women who had outward signs of hormone imbalance, and were given the a version of the contraceptive pill containing the female sex hormone oestrogen. (C)BBC

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Link ID: 9825 - Posted: 01.09.2007

Study Sees No Gain in Using Antidepressant to Treat Anorexia

By BENEDICT CAREY One of the most widely used treatments for the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, the antidepressant Prozac, works no better than dummy pills in preventing recurrence in young women who have recovered from it, researchers are reporting today. The study, the most rigorous to date to test the use of medication for anorexia, should alter treatment for an illness that is often devastatingly chronic and that has a higher mortality than any other psychiatric disorder, experts said. Fewer than a third of the study's participants, who also received regular psychotherapy, remained healthy for a year or more, whether they received drug treatment or not, the study found. An estimated 1 percent of Americans, or about three million people, mostly young women, will at some point suffer from the self-starvation and obsessive anxiety about weight that characterize anorexia, and surveys find that about two-thirds of them receive treatment with Prozac or similar antidepressants, which are considered generally interchangeable. Research suggests that the drugs can be useful in helping people recover from bulimia nervosa, an eating disorder involving bingeing and purging that causes less dramatic weight loss than anorexia. But the new findings put to rest hopes from earlier work that these benefits might carry over to anorexia, experts said. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Dying to be in control

By Denise Winterman Nearly half of the British children with an eating disorder feel unable to talk about their problem, says a report from the Eating Disorders Association (EDA). It is estimated that more than a million people in the UK have anorexia or bulimia and many of them are young. The report says eating disorders are still misunderstood and mistaken, sometimes seen as trivial and self-inflicted when they are actually serious and life-threatening mental illnesses. Early treatment is vital if people are to avoid long-term consequences to their physical and mental health, but many youngsters keep their condition secret - including one such teenager who has kept a diary of her relationship with food. Sarah - not her real name - lives in Manchester with her mother and sister. The 18-year-old student has had an eating disorder for four years. Here she details how food dominated her last week. MONDAY Monday usually starts with a list of resolutions about what food I am not going to allow myself to eat in the next week. I want to control what I eat and get a feeling of excitement at the strict targets I set myself. When I am at college it is easy to do. The hard part starts when I get home from college. My family know I have a problem and insist on family meal times. (C)BBC

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Link ID: 8502 - Posted: 02.07.2006

Feeling fat in the festive season? It's all in your mind

Feeling thin or fat is an illusion constructed in the brain, according to a new study published in the journal Public Library of Science Biology. The collaborative study led by UCL (University College London) used a trick called the Pinocchio illusion to scan people's brains while they experienced the sensation that their waists were shrinking. The study reveals which parts of the brain are involved in body image and may shed some light on anorexia and body dysmorphic disorder, where sufferers are overly concerned by a small or imagined defect in their body, and frequently overestimate or underestimate their actual body size. The study, led by Dr Henrik Ehrsson of the UCL Institute of Neurology, used the Pinocchio illusion in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging to study volunteers' brains. For each volunteer, a vibrating device was placed on their wrist to stimulate the tendon and create the sensation that the joint was flexing, even though it remained stationary. With their hand touching their waist, volunteers felt their wrists bending into their body, creating the illusion that their waists were shrinking. During the tendon exercise, all 17 participants felt that their waist had shrunk by up to 28 per cent. The researchers found high levels of activity in the posterior parietal cortex, an area of the brain that integrates sensory information from different parts of the body. Volunteers who reported the strongest shrinking sensation also showed the strongest activity in this area of the brain.

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Link ID: 8225 - Posted: 11.29.2005

Abuse 'triggers eating disorders'

Childhood sex abuse increases the risk of women developing eating disorders - and can even impact on their children, a study says. Researchers found girls abused before the age of 16 were twice as likely to develop eating disorders later in life. The University of Bristol team also said these women were likely to have weight concerns while pregnant and that had a knock-on effect on the child. The findings were published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The team studied 10,000 women - one in five of whom had being abused. Researchers involved in the university's Children of the 90s project found 79% of the women recalled happy childhoods. The report said these women were less likely to worry about their weight or develop conditions such as bulimia and anorexia later in life. But of those who were sexually abused, 15% showed symptoms of an eating disorder and 30% showed concern about their weight during pregnancy. The researchers said this was a cause for concern, as maternal eating problems after childbirth interfered with parenting and child growth. Women with excessive fears about weight and shape are less likely to breast feed. But the report accepted other distressful experiences during childhood could also trigger problems. Previous research has shown that eating disorders may be connected to a wide range of unhappy childhood influences including parental alcohol misuse, physical or emotional cruelty and other family problems. (C)BBC

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Link ID: 8145 - Posted: 11.09.2005

Lessons for parents of anorexics

Experts have launched a course to teach the family members of young people with eating disorders how to offer care and support. Over a million people in the UK have an eating disorder, many of them teenagers and some children as young as seven. Effective treatment early on can mean a successful outcome in 90% of cases, but often it is difficult for loved ones to know what to do for the best. King's College London has begun a course to give carers necessary skills. The Collaborative Caring Course teaches the necessary skills to understand eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, and the consequential behavioural changes. It is hoped it will help family members deal with the impact eating disorders have on their lives as well as to inspire change in the sufferer. Professor Janet Treasure from The Eating Disorder Research Unit, who is running the free course, said she hoped to dispel common eating disorder myths. These include the misconception that families, in particular mothers, are responsible for their daughter developing an eating disorder; that people with anorexia nervosa choose to have their illness and that people with eating disorders are trying to punish their parents. "Understanding and support are vital," she said. (C)BBC

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Link ID: 8057 - Posted: 10.22.2005

A family's battle against bulimia

Five years ago Karen Reed, from East Yorkshire, was slimmer of the year - but she had a secret. For the past 28 years she has been bulimic. Her daily life revolves around bingeing on vast amounts of food and then making herself sick. The condition has taken a terrible toll on Karen's health. The acid from her stomach has burnt a hole in her oesophagus and dissolved away most of her teeth. "I was 15 when I first made myself sick, I'm 43 now," said Karen. "I can't remember what it feels like to be normal, this is normal for me, throwing up two, three times a day is normal." But it is not just Karen who is suffering. Her eldest daughter Jess, who is 17 and a part time model, is also bulimic. "For me it was always a need to lose weight and it was a very effective way I found," she said. "The first time I threw up I saw on the scales it made me lose a few pounds so I kept it going. It was something that progressed and got worse and now it has such a detrimental effect on my life." Bulimia is treated as a psychological disorder in the UK but Karen and Jess say they have had therapy without success. A BBC documentary team has followed them as they try and get hold of an experimental drug which they believe could cure them of their eating disorder. (C)BBC

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Link ID: 7991 - Posted: 10.04.2005

Blacks Join the Eating-Disorder Mainstream

By DENISE BRODEY As a teenager, Nickona Knuckles regularly binged on food and then vomited to keep her weight down. Ms. Knuckles, who is African-American, recalled that at the time she had no idea of the devastating health effects of bulimia, nor did she care. She was one of nine black students in a high school of 3,000 and was struggling simply to be accepted. "When it came to body image, my perception of beauty was based on my white peers and images of white celebrities in the media," Ms. Knuckles, now 34, said in an interview at her home in Phoenix. "I didn't want to be white but it was very difficult to be comfortable with who I was." Her parents, concerned about her eating problem, took her to an outpatient treatment program in Mesa, Ariz. But, Ms. Knuckles said, the program did not help her. "The place was filled with white people and, to be honest, there was nobody who looked like me or could relate to me," she said. Eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia conjure images of affluent white teenage girls. And most studies of these disorders have focused on white patients. In recent years, however, more blacks and other minorities have been seeking help from eating disorder clinics. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

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Link ID: 7922 - Posted: 09.20.2005

Brain chemistry link to anorexia

Scientists have produced evidence that the eating disorder anorexia nervosa is linked to disrupted brain chemistry. They have shown a form of the disorder is associated with an alteration of the activity of serotonin - a chemical linked to mood and anxiety. The University of Pittsburgh team hope their work could lead to the development of new drugs and psychological treatments. The study is published in Archives of General Psychiatry. The main symptom of anorexia nervosa is the relentless pursuit of thinness through self-starvation, driven by an obsessive fear of being fat. There are two sub-types. One simply involves restricting food intake, the other involves periods of restrictive eating alternated with episodes of binge eating and /or purging, rather like bulimia. The Pittsburgh team compared serotonin activity in women who had recovered from both sub-types of the disorder, with that in women who had never developed an eating disorder. Using sophisticated brain scans, they showed significantly higher serotonin activity in several parts of the brains of women who had recovered from the bulimia-type form of the disorder. Serotonin levels were also heightened in the group who had recovered from restricting-type anorexia, but not significantly so. However, the highest levels in this group were found among those women who showed most signs of anxiety. (C)BBC

Crohn's 'mistaken for anorexia'

Some children who are very thin are being misdiagnosed as anorexic when they have the gut disorder Crohn's disease, a leading expert has warned. Child health specialist Professor Ian Booth told a conference that treatment can be delayed for months as a result. He said teenagers with Crohn's - an inflammation of the digestive tract - could present with growth failure but no digestive symptoms. Professor Booth said doctors should be aware Crohn's was a possible diagnosis. The diagnosis problems arise when children and teenagers are extremely thin and failing to thrive, he told a British Society of Gastroenterology meeting in Birmingham. Doctors may assume the patients have anorexia when they are actually having problems eating and digesting food because of Crohn's disease. Crohn's usually affects the small intestine. People with the condition may develop obstructions in their bowel, making digesting food painful. Professor Booth told the BBC News website: "This is an issue which is numerically very small, but individually very important. "Growth failure in the absence of intestinal symptoms can be an important presentation of Crohn's in adolescents. "The other important presentation is in wasting - as in malnutrition - so much so that presenting this way in adolescence, it is sometimes confused with anorexia nervosa." (C)BBC

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Link ID: 7056 - Posted: 03.20.2005

Brain theory of eating disorders

Women may be more at risk of eating disorders than men because of the way their brain processes information. Scientists found the female brain responds differently to a man's when exposed to certain words concerned with body image. The findings may provide an explanation for why ten times as many women develop anorexia and bulimia than men. The study, by Japan's Hiroshima University, is published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. British experts welcomed the research and said it could lead to a better understanding of how eating disorders develop. A spokesman for the Eating Disorders Assocation said: "We know there are differences between how men and women reason and think. "But this study throws new light on the problem." Eating disorders are a serious problem in the UK. It is estimated that at least 165,000 people, 90 per cent of them women, are affected and that one in ten will die as a result of their condition. Both anorexia, which involves starving the body of food and bulimia, a cycle of starving and bingeing, are closely linked to mental illness. They now account for more deaths among psychiatric patients than anything else. But until now, there has been no obvious trigger for why women get the disorder. Although genetic make-up does have some influence, problems with eating can also be brought on stress at school, depression and even bereavement among family or friends. The latest study hints at an underlying physiological cause. Scientists took 13 men and 13 women and exposed them to a series of tests in which they were asked to read two sets of words. (C)BBC

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Link ID: 6656 - Posted: 01.05.2005

Anorexia linked to child dancers

Children who dance are more at risk of having eating disorders like anorexia when they grow up, research has found. It is believed to be the first time a link has been found with dancing for pleasure as a child and such problems. The researchers said the study suggests "participation in dance as a young girl has a long term effect on a woman's eating behaviour". The study, by psychiatrists at the University of Minnesota, is published in the Journal of Sleep Research. Previous studies have found eating disorders are more common in professional ballet dancers, as well as elite athletes. Eating disorders are a serious problem in the UK. It is estimated that at least 165,000 people, mostly women, are affected and that one in 10 will die as a result of their condition. Both anorexia, which involves starving the body of food and bulimia, a cycle of starving and bingeing, are closely linked to mental illness. They now account for more deaths among psychiatric patients than anything else. Media images of super thin models and pop stars are thought to be a major influence on youngsters' eating habits. The desire for a perfect body can mean some lose control of their eating habits and become preoccupied with their appearance. To see if there was any connection between childhood dance and adult eating, researchers recruited 546 women aged from 17 to 55. Each one was quizzed on whether they had danced in childhood. They also completed special questionnaires designed to measure disordered eating behaviours, body image and signs of depression. Just under two-thirds of the women said they had danced when they were children. (C)BBC

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Link ID: 6623 - Posted: 12.26.2004

Bulimic teens also likely to suffer from depression

COLLEGE STATION, Dec. 7, 2004 - Teen-agers suffering from bulimia may in fact be fighting a two-front war, coping with the effects of a devastating eating disorder while struggling with a chronic form of depression, reveals research by Texas A&M University psychologist Marisol Perez, who says the finding has critical implications for the way the disorder is treated. Often masked by the bulimia itself, dysthymia - a lower-level, chronic form of depression - is often present in bulimics and may even predispose them to the eating disorder, shows the research by Perez and her colleagues Thomas E. Joiner Jr. of Florida State University and Peter M. Lewinsohn of the Oregon Research Institute. Dysthymia, Perez explains, is different from the more familiar major depression in terms of its duration, severity and persistence of mood disturbance, all factors that can impact the course and treatment of eating disorders. "As pernicious as major depression can be, it tends to remit, even if untreated," she notes. "By contrast, dysthymia is unrelenting, often lasting decades, with the average episode length lasting more than 10 years."

Sorry. Your Eating Disorder Doesn't Meet Our Criteria.

By ROBIN MARANTZ HENIG Imagine a 20-year-old woman who refuses to eat anything except carrots and toast because she is afraid of gaining weight, even though she is 5-foot-8 and weighs only 99 pounds. She exercises to the point of exhaustion five mornings a week because, though she is bone-thin, she thinks her thighs are too flabby. Her periods are irregular, but she has never gone more than three months without menstruating. Another woman, who is also 20 and also 5-foot-8, has an opposite eating pattern. She goes without eating all day, and starting at 6 p.m. she eats nonstop, whatever she can get her hands on. Her favorite pastime is to sit in front of the television with a gallon of mocha-chip ice cream. She maintains a normal weight of 130 by occasionally forcing herself to vomit. But purging is not always easy in her college dormitory, with four young women sharing a single bathroom, so she ends up vomiting, on average, about once a week. Everyone can agree that these women have some sort of disordered eating. But psychiatrists would say that neither one falls into the strict definition of anorexia nervosa, the most severe eating disorder, or its relative, bulimia nervosa. According to the bible of psychiatric diagnosis, the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, anorexia must be accompanied by cessation of menstrual periods for at least three months in a row, and bulimia must involve vomiting or other forms of purging at least two times a week, on average. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

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Link ID: 6499 - Posted: 11.30.2004

Older Women, Too, Struggle With a Dangerous Secret

By BONNIE ROTHMAN MORRIS Mention anorexia or bulimia, and what comes to mind is a skin-and-bones teenager caught in a ferocious struggle to be thin. But doctors say they are seeing a disturbing trend: a growing group of women in their 30's, 40's and 50's who have eating disorders. Most have husbands, children, jobs and aging parents. They live with their secret while trying to manage the other aspects of their lives. Lori Varecka, 44, said she hid her bouts of starving and purging from her husband, her mother and her three children for more than two decades. But by 1997, what Mrs. Varecka was hiding was plain to see: At 5 feet 7 inches, she weighed 94 pounds. That year, she admitted to her doctor that she was ill. Eventually, she also told her family. In some cases, experts say, older women with eating disorders know something is wrong, but they do not give a name to their problem. Some feel ashamed to have an illness normally associated with teenagers. "Women feel so invalid. They feel that they should grow up," said Dr. Margo Maine, an eating disorders expert in Hartford and the author of a coming book on midlife eating disorders, "The Shape We're In: Overcoming Women's Obsessions with Weight, Food and Body Image." Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

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Link ID: 5757 - Posted: 07.06.2004

EATING DISORDER BEHAVIORS LINKED TO SUICIDE RISKS

By Becky Ham, Science Writer A study of Swiss women with eating disorders suggests that those who binge and purge are more likely to have attempted suicide in the past, regardless of whether they have been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, bulimia or another eating disorder. Women with anorexia, however, are more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those with bulimia or other disorders, say Gabriella Milos, M.D., and colleagues at the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland. Their study appears in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry. The researchers also found that most of the women in the study had other psychiatric disorders besides an eating disorder, including depression, drug or alcohol abuse or fearfulness or anxiety. Almost 84 percent of the patients had at least one other psychiatric problem. Milos and colleagues say the link between purging and suicidal attempts might be due to a lack of impulse control, which would affect both behaviors.

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Link ID: 5426 - Posted: 05.08.2004

Common epilepsy treatment to be used for bulimia nervosa

U of MN doctors receive NIH grant to test promising new bulimia treatment that aims to stop involuntary binge-eating and vomiting MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL -- The University of Minnesota's Neuroscience Research Group received nearly $300,000 from the National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of a common epilepsy therapy in treating bulimia nervosa. This is the first study of Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy (VNS) for this disorder. VNS Therapy aims to reverse the physiological changes that have occurred in the function of the vagus nerve from repeated binge eating and vomiting. By controlling vagus nerve activity through electrical stimulation, doctors hope to reduce the frequency of vomiting in bulimics. VNS Therapy is expected to dampen activity in the vagus nerve, the main "information highway" from the stomach to the brain. A pacemaker-like pulse generator is implanted directly below the skin of a patient's chest to deliver intermittent pulses of electrical stimulation to the brain via the vagus nerve in the neck. Using an external programming system, doctors can adjust the timing and amount of stimulation the patient receives. This stimulation is expected to control vagus nerve activity and reduce the urges to binge eat and vomit. "Most people don't realize that women with bulimia only self-induce vomiting at the early stages of the disorder. Later on, this behavior becomes involuntary as a result of changes in the activity level of the vagus nerve" says Patricia Faris, Ph.D., associate professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School's Department of Psychiatry and principal investigator of the VNS Therapy trial. "Bulimia is both a psychological and physiological disorder. The social pressure to be thin is probably the reason for an individual to start binge eating and vomiting, but after a while these behaviors induce changes in the activity of the vagus nerve. The goals of our research are to reverse the physiological changes that have occurred thereby reducing, or eliminating, the urges to vomit and to address the psychological components which originally led to the initiation of the disorder and which, if not re-structured, may result in future relapses."

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Link ID: 5040 - Posted: 02.25.2004

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