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Thanks
to the National Institute of Mental Health
for the following information.
Eating
Disorders: Facts About Eating Disorders and the Search for Solutions
Eating is controlled by
many factors, including appetite, food availability, family, peer, and
cultural practices, and attempts at voluntary control. Dieting to a body
weight leaner than needed for health is highly promoted by current fashion
trends, sales campaigns for special foods, and in some activities and
professions. Eating disorders involve serious disturbances in eating
behavior, such as extreme and unhealthy reduction of food intake or severe
overeating, as well as feelings of distress or extreme concern about body
shape or weight. Researchers are investigating how and why initially
voluntary behaviors, such as eating smaller or larger amounts of food than
usual, at some point move beyond control in some people and develop into
an eating disorder. Studies on the basic biology of appetite control and
its alteration by prolonged overeating or starvation have uncovered
enormous complexity, but in the long run have the potential to lead to new
pharmacologic treatments for eating disorders.
Eating disorders are not
due to a failure of will or behavior; rather, they are real, treatable
medical illnesses in which certain maladaptive patterns of eating take on
a life of their own. The main types of eating disorders are anorexia
nervosa and bulimia nervosa. A third type, binge-eating disorder, has been
suggested but has not yet been approved as a formal psychiatric diagnosis.
Eating disorders frequently develop during adolescence or early adulthood,
but some reports indicate their onset can occur during childhood or later
in adulthood.
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Part 2
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