Eating Disorder Statistics Among The Populace
Anorexia is estimated to occur in 1 of every 200 females aged from 12 to 18. Males are said to account for about 5-10 percent of bulimia and anorexia cases. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a relentless pursuit of thinness and extremely abhorrent eating behaviors, such as deliberate self-starvation. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by recurrent and frequent episodes of eating large amounts of food, followed by purging behavior such as vomiting, fasting, use of diuretics, or excessive exercise. Anorexia is found chiefly in adolescents, especially young women, and female anorexics outnumber males by a ratio of 15 to 1.
Anorexia nervosa rears its head in early to mid adolescence. In the United States, as many as ten million females and one million males are fighting a life and death battle with this eating disorder. Although most cases of eating disorders develop during adolescence or early adulthood, it can also occur during childhood or later in adulthood.
Anorexia is by definition, a loss of appetite, however, anorexia is more about weight rather than eating. Anorexia is self-induced starvation to the point of extreme, and can have deadly consequences. Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating affect more women than men, because women get figure conscious more so then men. Anorexia is classified as an eating disorder where individuals starve themselves of food, because they have an obsessive longing to be thin.
Bulimia nervosa (BN) is prevalent among 2% of females, and both disorders have female-to-male ratios of 10:1. While bulimia can be very harmful to all parts of the body, the good news is that a person with bulimia can get better. Bulimia, characterized by a cycle of binging and purging, where the binge-eating is uncontrolled, and the large amounts of food consumed can last a few minutes to several hours.
Bulimia is one of the most commonly talked about eating disorders; individuals that are afflicted with this disorder tend to eat large meals that can be upwards of thousands of calories, which are later purged. Bulimia and eating disorders often stem from childhood sexual abuse. Bulimia appears to run in families, where people with relatives suffering from bulimia have a higher frequency of developing bulimia themselves. However, this may have more to do with family influences and role models than genetics.
Binge eating differs from anorexia and bulimia because people do not regularly vomit, over exercise, or abuse laxatives after they have eaten. Binge eating also occurs in another eating disorder called bulimia nervosa, where the victims usually purge, fast, or do strenuous exercises after they eat. Up to 18 new cases per 100,000 population of bulimia nervosa happen per year. While incidences of anorexia nervosa appears to have remained fairly constant over time, incidences of bulimia nervosa now appears to be increasing rapidly.
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