by FranLl

Created on: November 24, 2010

Are you worried that your child or friend may be on the brink of an eating disorder? You are not alone. The number of people with eating disorders are climbing at an alarming rate each year. As much as 11 million Americans suffer from the condition, and children as young as five years old are diagnosed with an eating disorder.  While the exact causes of eating disorders are not clear, scientists and experts do agree that there are several factors that can make a person more likely to develop the condition:

*Biological Factors*

Studies have shown that genetic disorders can be inherited, which means that those with affected parents or siblings have a higher risk of developing an eating disorder too.  This means that there may be a yet unidentified gene or genes that drive eating disorders. Abnormal functioning of the hypothalamic-axis-pituitary-adrenal axis of the brain, an area responsible for behavior, hormone balance, and emotion can also lead to eating disorders.

Certain chemicals have also been identified to play a key role in eating disorders. These include mood and appetite regulators serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. The satiety and appetite hormones leptin and ghrelin also have imbalanced levels in people with eating disorders. These people have also been found to have elevated amounts of the immune system’s autoantibodies which attack appetite- and stress- regulating chemicals in the body.

*Social/Environmental Factors*

The role and image of food has altered dramatically in the modern world, especially in the Western world. The average American now consumes as much as 4,000 calories per day, most of these processed foods rich in fat and simple carbohydrates like sugar. At the same time the pressure to be thin is also very strong, with thin models espousing a sexy or successful lifestyle flooding the mass media. This creates a disjoint in the body image of many individuals, where the oversupply of food makes eating more convenient while an unrealistically thin ideal body type makes them unhappy about their own bodies. These are strong factors that can lead to eating disorders.

Peer pressure, which is an offshoot of the cultural pressure for thinness, is another strong environmental trigger for eating disorders. When friends, schoolmates, and co-workers all ascribe to the thin ideal, pressure to be so becomes stronger. People who are socially isolated can also develop eating disorders as a way to compensate for their loneliness

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>