theagingofanorexia

Media Factors in Anorexia

According to Health magazine (2002) 32 percent of female TV network characters are underweight while only 5 percent of females in any TV audience are underweight. In contrast, men are portrayed by actors who are older, very unglamorous, even unkempt and often fat. Again according to Health magazine only 3 percent of female TV network characters are obese while over 25 percent of the American TV audience are obese.

And just in case you didn't get the message, the TV ads tell us that if we want to be attractive and successful we need to be thin with 6-pack abs. The message – you are not very good the way you are. To be acceptable buy our product so you can look like our model who is 6 feet tall and wears zero size jeans.

The differences between the media's concept of successful and happy men and women are interesting. The women are young and thin – no gray hair. The men are young or older, but strong and powerful in business and in the bedroom. Men are not seen as thin. Skinny men are perceived as weak and sick.

Think about it. When a man wants to improve how he looks he starts lifting weights and exercising. When a woman wants to improve how she looks she starts dieting which leaves her weak and thin. Yet women have the same needs for power and control as do males.

Maybe this explains why ninety percent of people with anorexic eating disorders are women and only 10 percent are men.

I welcome your opinion. Do you think the media plays an important role in our perceptions of what looks good and what does not. Share your thinking and type them in the blank window under comments.

Regards,

Ruthan Brodsky

Causes of Anorexia

I'm convinced there are multiple causes of anorexia – psychological, biological, even environmental causes. I know my sister exhibited every one they ever wrote about!

Here are some of the biological causes that research claims may cause eating disorders.

One study (Archives of General Psychiatry 2006; 63:305-312) claims that genetic factors account for more than half the risk of developing anorexia nervosa. We assume that, at least in part, we owe our personality and temperament to our genes. It also appears that some personality types, such as obsessive compulsive, are more vulnerable to eating disorders than others. Research also points out that genetic factors predispose some people to anxiety and perfectionism. These people also have more than there share of eating disorders.

In fact, people with a mother or sister who has anorexia nervosa are 12 times more likely than others with no family history of that disorder, to develop it.

Another piece of research (Journal of Biological Psychiatry; July 2005.) suggests that women who develop anorexia nervosa have excess activity in the brain's dopamine receptors which regulate pleasure. This explains why many feel driven to lose weight but don't feel good about it.

The fact that I think is particularly critical is that once a person starts to starve herself, that behavior in itself alters her brain chemistry and prolongs the disorder. Not eating enough can activate brain chemicals that produce feelings of euphoria negating any anxiety and depression. One theory is that people with eating disorders are using food to self-medicate painful feelings.

I have never thought about that possibility. Any comments?

To your best health.

Ruthan Brodsky

P.S. I am starting to host teleseminars and radio programs on staying healthy as you age. Let me know if you're interested and I'll forward the information about the calls back to you.

Treating Anorexia with Deep Brain Stimulation: New Research

A research team in China presented the results of a two-year study on the treatment of 20 anorexic patients whose previous psychiatric and pharmaceutical therapies had been ineffective. The study presented at the International Neuromodulation Society 8th world congress this February, demonstrated the effectiveness of deep brain stimulation (DBS) as treatment for anorexia nervosa.

The director of the study, Bomin Sun, MD at Shanghai Jiao Tong University Rui Jin Hospital, China, stated that DBS treatment is promising because all patients had an improvement in eating behavior, psychiatric symptoms or a combination of both.

Implanted electrodes were implanted in the patients and the DBS electrodes to stimulate the neurons in the forebrain, a similar approach used for treating Parkinson disease. All patients were followed for 26 months. Several patients who received only deep brain stimulation showed an improvement in obsessive-compulsive and anxiety symptoms, but minimal progress in eating behavior. No side effects were observed.

I’m working hard to provide you with whatever research I find about adult anorexia. The science gurus are examining the possibilities probably because there are so many Americans that do have an eating disorder.

Let me know if you’re looking for a specific piece of data about anorexia and I’ll search and find.

Have a great week-end.

Ruthan Brodsky

Writer for Businesses and Health Care Professionals

www.balanceyourhealth.com

www.upsideofaging.com

Sources: www.medicalnewstoday.com Feb, 08.

Stigma of Anorexia Reduced When Genetics Explained

People who understand the genetics and biology of anorexia nervosa are less likely to blame people with anorexia for their illness says a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) study. The stigma creates often makes people with anorexia more reluctant to seek treatment causing even more problems.

The study was published Jan.9, 2008 in the online version of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. According to the research cited as background for the study, Anorexia is usually thought of as something that’s under the control of those who suffer from it.

Study Says Women Do Recover from Anorexia

I think of anorexia as a chronic problem, a condition that just doesn’t go away. Even if someone were treated for anorexia as a teen, the eating disorder challenges remained with them as they grew older. In fact, I recently read (can’t recall where and I didn’t write it down) that patients who were diagnosed as anorexics as adults really had an eating disorder in their youth. The disorder was simply never diagnosed.

There’s been a recent nation wide study in Finland that refutes my thinking. The results of this study state that anorexia is a common, often severe condition but 70% of the women with anorexia recover before age 30.

The report stated that 2.2% of Finnish young women suffered from severe anorexia nervosa. When the researchers added milder forms of starvation and obsessive anxiety about weight and shape, the percentage of women suffering from anorexic symptoms during their lifetime rose to 5%. The study also reported that anorexic symptoms usually started between ages 10 and 25 and peaked between ages 15 and 19.

Anorexia Is Probably More Common That We Think

A study of 3,000 Finnish women born between 1975 and 1979 reports that more women have anorexia than we know. They found that 2.2 percent of the women suffered from severe anorexia nervosa and up to 5 percent suffered from some degree of anorexic symptoms (self starvation and obsessive anxiety about weight) sometime during their life.

I’m guessing the number is even greater. I believe that women are very good at hiding their condition.

The study also reported that for many women, anorexia symptoms come and go. The symptoms usually appear between ages 10 and 25. The peak onset was between ages 15 and 19.

That piece of news is also very interesting.

The researchers also found that recovery from anorexia is slow and gradual. Initially women regained their lost weight and resumed menstruation. But it took 5 to 10 years for them to readjust their attitudes about body shape and weight.

By age 30 close to 70 percent of the women with anorexia recovered from the illness. The average time was 3 years.

The report didn’t say anything about middle-age and older women suffering from anorexia. There’s just not much research out there for this age group.

NOTE: For the first time, the federal government published a report evaluating the different types of treatment for eating disorders. The report commissioned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is now available online. Copies of the report are available free of charge by calling the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse at 800-358-9295 or by sending an E-mail to ahrqpubs@ahrq.gov.

Hoping this information is useful. At least the information is out there!

Warmly, Ruthan Brodsky

Is Anorexia Hereditary?

At least the predisposition to anorexia and other eating disorders may run in families.

I admit to not knowing much about eating disorders – particularly when they focus on middle-aged and older adults. As I described this blog, my intent is to find out as much as I can and share what I learn with you so that at least there’s awareness.

I’m reading an article published in 2000 by the Society for Neruoscience. http://www.sfn.org. It may have been published in their journal which has some connection with Stanford University- not sure.

The author acknowledges that the pressure to be thin has had an impact on eating disorders and that physicians once blamed eating disorders solely on vanity. A change in attitude has taken place because research has discovered that there are biological factors also at work, a chemical malfunction. The research implicates – that’s the word used – genes and brain chemicals.

Seeking answers to why not everyone succumbed to the pressure of being thin, they suspected biology must have a role. Their research seems to back up this premise. For example, one large family study found that a mother or sister of a person with anorexia is about 8 times more likely to get anorexia than the general population. Moreover, eating disorders occur more often in relatives of individuals with eating disorders than in healthy individuals. The evidence suggests a genetic link.

One study found an altered gene involved with the activity of the brain chemical, serotonin. Other researchers weren’t able to verify this. Another study is analyzing the genetic makeup of hundreds of families that have at least two relatives with eating disorders to determine if there is a serotonin link or uncover other genetic errors. The thought is some people may inherit a fragile serotonin system.

I have yet to locate the results of these studies started more than 7 years ago but I’ll keep looking.

In the meantime, does that mean I get to blame my mother for all these eating disorders in our family because she, for sure, was continually dieting. I don’t remember her ever being too thin, however. But I do remember her always complaining how difficult it was to keep her weight down after menopause. And she was never more than a size 6 until her late 80s.

If one of you has information about eating disorders developing in families, I’m hoping you’ll share it with us. It does make sense you know, especially if you think of the disorder as a type of addiction. Addictions also tend to run in families.

Take care
Ruthan Brodsky