Why Teenage Girls Get Eating Disorders?

"When the size zero trend hit due to Kareena (Kapoor) in Tashan, teenage girls and young adults started starving themselves. Many were very malnourished when their mothers brought them to me. Their whole body had suffered and they had numerous physical ailments"

-Nivedita, a nutritionist from South Delhi.

Teenage is a confusing phase in life when we, boys and girls, are vulnerable to misinformation, wrong role models and the wrong assumptions that guide our appearance and food habits. At such a delicate stage, most of us just want to be accepted. Teenagers, especially girls, these days become conscious of their looks even before hitting puberty. Social pressures, the image of the ideal body being propagated by the media and popular culture, bullying/ teasing are the some of the reasons. Some of the most important of their concerns are body size and shape, thus they become susceptible to eating disorders.

Teenage girls who dieted at a severe level were 18 times more likely to develop an eating disorder than those who didn?t; and girls who dieted at a moderate level were 5 times more likely to develop it than those who did not diet at all*.

Eating disorders are divided into three categories: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and atypical eating disorders which include binge eating.

• Anorexia: a condition in which a child refuses to eat adequate calories out of an intense and irrational fear of becoming fat.
• Bulimia: a condition in which a child overeats (binges) grossly and then purges the food by vomiting or using laxatives to prevent weight gain.
• Binge eating: a condition in which a child may gorge rapidly on food, but without purging **

Eating disorders have also been known to overlap in many cases where teenagers are found to go through alternate phases of anorexia and bulimia. Furthermore, female children, teenagers and young adults are much more vulnerable; only 5% to 15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are male. When it comes to binge eating, the percentage of boys rises to 35% (ref.2).

There is no specific reason for eating disorders. Doctors suspect a combination of biological, behavioral, and social factors contributing to this. Many teenagers with poor eating habits suffer from one or more of these problems:

• Distress
• Fear of becoming overweight
• Feelings of helplessness
• Low self-esteem

Eating disorders are commonly found to occur along with other psychiatric problems such as anxiety, depression and substance abuse (ref 2) causing other physical problems in teenagers, sometimes even leading to death.

In fact, consciously avoiding to eat, forcing hunger to die or even distracting themselves with things like smoking (quite common in teenagers and young adults in Delhi) have terrible consequences/ side effects such as exhaustion, irritability, sleeplessness, dizziness, weakness, dry skin, brittle nails, constipation, thin and falling hair, abnormal blood counts, elevated liver enzymes, seizure, menstruation stopping/ becoming irregular, intolerance of cold, irregular heart rhythms, low blood pressure, dehydration, osteoporosis.

So, it is important to be aware of the causes and consequences of eating disorders and enforce a healthy eating habit instead. These cannot be overcome through sheer willpower, but need medical help to restore normal body weight and proper eating habits. Psychological issues need to be addressed separately and as early as possible.

References:

*Ref. 1- Onset of adolescent eating disorders: population-based cohort study over 3 years

BMJ 1999; 318 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.318.7186.765 (Published 20 March 1999) BMJ 1999;318:765

**Ref 2- Eating Disorders in Children and Teens

By Katherine-Kam

http://webmd.com/katherine-kam WebMD Feature

Reviewed by John M Goldenring, MD, JD, MPH