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Eating Disorder Facts: Show Need for A Cure

People with eating disorders can go both ways. That is eating too much or too little and in either case, they threaten their health. The National Institute of Mental Health has compiled eating disorder facts within three main illnesses.

Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and binge eating disorder, although binge eating is known as a problem, it hasn’t yet been recognized as a serious mental health disease that community surveys claim affects anywhere from two to five percent of the population. Some of the eating disorder facts point out those affected experience binge eating at least twice a week for six months.

It has been estimated that one-half to 3.7 percent of females experience anorexia nervosa in their lifetime. However, those suffering for this disease refuse to accept the eating disorder facts that it can cause long-term health problems including death. Anorexia Nervosa occurs when a person cannot accept weighing anywhere near what is considered normal for their age and height. No matter how skinny they may be, they envision themselves as being vastly overweight and ignore all eating disorder facts to the contrary.

According to the NIMH eating disorder facts bulimia nervosa affects between 1.1 percent and 4.2 percent of females during their lifetime. Many researchers believe the bulimia nervosa is a continued stage of binge eating and the eating disorder facts seem to strengthen this argument.

Availability of Foods Contributes Largely to Disorders

With binge eating and bulimia nervosa many blame the many different types of food that are available as one of the causes. Researchers have not been able to cull the eating disorder facts to determine when, in a person’s life, the habit of eating too much, or too little, leaves the person’s control. The eating disorder facts do point out that because bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa are disorders out of the control of the individual they are classified as illnesses, treatable through proper medical means.

With bulimia nervosa, binge eating is usually followed by a feeling of disgust that the person attempts to compensate for their actions through regurgitation of the huge amount of food just consumed, or through the abuse of diuretics or laxatives. Other eating disorder facts conclude that this purging robs the body of essential nutrients and leads to other physical illnesses.

Binge eating is characterized by the consumption of large amounts of food even when the person doesn’t feel hungry. Since this disorder isn’t followed by the purging associated with bulimia nervosa, the person is usually vastly overweight as a result.