New Info on Men and Boys with Eating Disorders

It seems as society becomes increasingly aware of how serious the issue of eating disorders is, more attention is being focused on the problem of males with eating disorders. While it may be true that the majority of those with eating disorders are women and girls, it's being discovered that more and more men and boys are suffering with eating disorders as well.

I've come across a few recent articles on the subject, which I wanted to share with you.

From CBS's HealthWatch site, comes an article by John Casey, titled MALES, BEWARE: EATING DISORDERS LEAP GENDER DIVIDE. The article discusses how cultural changes may be behind the increase of men and boys developing eating disorders. Casey writes "Admittedly, the numbers of males with these eating disorders is very small. Mental health experts estimate that for every male who develops anorexia, for example, there are nine females with the problem. But in both genders by far the most vulnerable are the young." You'll find this entire article at: http://healthwatch.medscape.com/medscape...

At HealthScout.com, I found an article by Adam Marcus, titled ANOREXIA, A FAMILY AFFAIR. This article discusses the probability of a woman developing an eating disorder, if she has another family member who is already struggling with an eating disorders. That other family member can be either a male or a female. Marcus writes "Women whose sons or brothers have anorexia show a much greater risk of developing the eating disorder themselves, new research says. Scientists already knew that female siblings of women with anorexia have a heightened risk of the condition. The latest study, which appears in the April issue of the International Journal of Eating Disorders is the first to show it also holds true for males." You'll find this article at: http://www.healthscout.com/cgi-bin/WebOb...

HealthAnswers.com ran an article by Kevin Mulvihill, titled MANY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS SUFFER EATING DISORDERS. In it, Mulvihill discusses recent findings which show that "nearly one third of high school girls and 16% of high school boys show symptoms of an eating disorder". More specifically, the researchers found that "that 12% of the girls and 4% of the boys surveyed said that they vomited to control their weight, and 7% of the girls and 6% of the boys reported binge-eating once per week or more often". You can read the entire article at http://www.healthanswers.com/Centers/Dis...

A few months ago, HealthScout.com ran an article by Serena Gordon, titled EATING DISORDERS: NOT FOR WOMEN ONLY. She begins "While most people associate eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia with women, men suffer from these disorders, too. In fact, at least one million American men have an eating disorder". This is a short article, and a very quick read, but certainly worth taking a moment to check out. You'll find it at http://www.healthscout.com/cgi-bin/WebOb...