Eating Disorders News and Views: October 5, 2012

4th ANNUAL NYC NEDA WALK & EXPO 
Sunday | October 7, 2012
RAIN OR SHINE
 PARTICIPANT CHECK-IN 9:00am FOLEY SQUARE | NYC Located at Lafayette and Centre Streets in NYC.
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Not Just A Teen Issue: Manorexia And Elder Eating Disorders On The Rise 

“I was in so much pain that I could barely stand up,” Matt Wetsel said, recalling one of the worst moments of his eating disorder. “By the time I got home, I realized that this wasn’t a thing that was just happening. I had a serious problem.” Eating disorders are commonly associated with teen girls, but in reality this disease doesn't discriminate by gender or age.
 Read On the Rise in full 



'Dancing With The Stars' Pro Karina Smirnoff Shares Past Body Image Issues

Dancing With The Stars pro Karina Smirnoff has bravely opened up about her previous battle with eating issues and gives okmagazine.com a no holds barred insight into her struggles, which happened over 10 years ago, and subsequent triumph at now living a healthy life. The 34-year-old brunette beauty says her body image issues started at a young age because there was such a pressure to have a perfect body in the competitive dance world. "I competed since I was 2 years old I was always trying to be in a certain weight class and a certain shape and I think when I turned professional there was a certain period when I...
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Genes May Lead Women to Develop Eating Disorders

 Genetics may cause some women to develop eating disorders, as new research suggests the psychological power of beauty and self-image varies from person to person. Researchers at Michigan State University have found some women experience greater innate psychological pressure to be thin than others, a phenomenon they have named thin-ideal internalisation. Jessica Suisman, lead author on the study, said: "We're all bombarded daily with messages extoling the virtues of being thin, yet intriguingly only some women develop what we term thin-ideal internalisation. This suggests that genetic factors may make some women more susceptible to this pressure than others."
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Childhood Eating Disorders on the Rise

More than 25 million people in the United States -- around 1 in 13 -- suffer from an eating disorder. While people of all ages are affected, hospitalizations among children 12 and younger have more than doubled over the last decade, according to a study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Researchers don't have a clear picture of why the number of kids with eating disorders is on the rise, but Dina Zeckhausen of the Eating Disorder Information Network says increased concern about obesity can make kids anxious about their weight. She adds that putting overweight kids on diets can trigger an obsession with food that can lead into an eating disorder. Better options include increased activity and entire families working together to build healthier eating habits.
Read on the rise in full



Lady Gaga’s Positive Self-Image Campaign is Inspiring

After being scrutinized in tabloids for gaining weight, there’s not much celebrities can do except move on and try to ignore the comments. In the past weeks, Lady Gaga has been the media’s latest target regarding her body. But instead of backing away from these attacks, Lady Gaga has embraced them with pride and class. She didn’t succumb to their pressures by hiding away and trying to lose the weight. Instead she created a social media movement called Body Revolution.

On Sept. 25, Lady Gaga posted pictures of herself in just her underwear on her members only website, littlemonsters.com. She included a different caption for each of the four photos that said, “Bulimia and anorexia since I was 15. But today I joined the BODY REVOLUTION. To Inspire Bravery. And BREED some m$therf*cking COMPASSION.”
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Battling male anorexia

Builder Chris Glover was getting a lot of compliments on his muscular body. The 19-year-old had lost a lot of weight. The compliments soon dried up. He didn't notice it at the time, but it was clear to his tradie workmates. Mr Glover was anorexic.

 His workmates didn't say anything - they had never dealt with it before. It wasn't until Mr Glover became so sick his body started to shut down that he admitted what he had refused to acknowledge. "I was literally on the verge of my heart stopping," Mr Glover said. His doctor said he would not last another week unless he got help immediately.
Read Battling in full



Katie Couric: Why I Opened Up About My Struggle With Bulimia 

 Timing is everything. Opening up about her battle with bulimia on her talk show last week wasn't a tough decision for Katie Couric -- it just felt like the right time. "We were having an honest conversation," the talk show host explained to E! News. "So for me to harbor that kind of secret and not be upfront about it, seemed kind of disingenuous when I was asking all these other people to share these intensely personal stories. I felt like it was the right thing to do. It's just a part of who I am.
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Informed Parents and Coaches Can Help Prevent Eating Disorders in Young Athletes as Fall Sports Begin

Driven athletes possess similar personality traits to individuals who suffer from anorexia nervosa, which may predispose them to the potential development of an eating disorder. For this reason, and as fall sports kick into full gear, Eating Recovery Center, an international center providing comprehensive treatment for anorexia, bulimia, EDNOS and binge eating disorder, encourages parents, coaches and athletes themselves to understand and minimize athletic activities and pressures that could potentially lead to eating disorders.

 Experts agree that certain categories of sports tend to place athletes at a greater than average risk for developing an eating disorder. High risk sports often include dance, gymnastics, wresting, endurance running and swimming. In fact, research published by Craig Johnson, PhD, FAED, CEDS, chief clinical officer of Eating Recovery Center, found that at least one-third of female college athletes have some symptoms of an eating disorder.
Read Informed in full



Study Roundup: Rethinking Risk Factors for Eating Disorders

 Everyone knows about obvious inherited traits such as eye color, height, and facial features. Less obvious is the fact that you may be at greater risk of developing an eating disorder because of your genes.

 New research published today in the International Journal of Eating Disorders has found that genetics may play a much greater role in who develops an eating disorder than was previously understood. 

Overwhelmingly a condition suffered by young females, eating disorders fall into three types—anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder—and affect up to 24 million Americans. Unfortunately, many never seek treatment for the disorders, of which anorexia poses the most serious health risk. Anorexia has a mortality rate that is 18 times higher for females than for those without the disorder according to Dr. Hans-Christop Steinhausen, child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Anorexics, like others with eating disorders, are at a higher-than-average risk for suicide, depression, and substance abuse.
Read Study Roundup in full




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