Facts about eating disorders shocking

Last week, I listened to a very knowledgeable family doctor speak to a small group of female… Last week, I listened to a very knowledgeable family doctor speak to a small group of female college students about eating disorders.

The issue, I was aware, is a very important one. But before the event, I anticipated a little bit of redundancy.

How many times can anorexia and bulimia and the warning signs be defined for you? How many times can we be told, “It’s no one’s fault and I can’t fix it. I need to ask for help?”

Answer: not that many times. At least, not that many times until my eyeballs shine over and I struggle to stay focused. Yet the information she presented and the discussion that followed completely blew me away. Here are some quick facts so you can see where I’m coming from.

Although they usually start in the teens, eating disorders have been found in girls as young as 7 and 8 years old. That’s somewhere around first or second grade. Approximately one out of every 100 female adolescents suffers from anorexia. That might not seem too scary, but the Princeton Review puts Pitt’s female undergraduate population at about 8,734 (52 percent of 16,796). Thus, at least 87 women at this University alone sometimes force themselves not to eat or throw up after their meals. That is way too many.

Eating disorders have an extremely high mortality rate, higher than any other mental illness. Five to 10 percent of those suffering from anorexia die within 10 years of contracting the disease, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

Some 50 percent of girls between the ages of 11 and 13 see themselves as overweight (in other words, half of girls in a given middle school think they’re fat). And some 80 percent of 13-year-olds have attempted to lose weight. That’s a little nuts, I think.

Maybe – OK, clearly – I was being completely ignorant when I thought I knew everything about the issue already. But really, whenever I thought about anorexia and bulimia, I still pictured a Calista Flockhart video they showed us in health class where she suffers from bulimia and stores her vomit in jars in her bedroom closet.

I’m sure extreme situations like that happen sometimes, but it didn’t strike me as anything I had to worry about. The chances of friends and family falling victim to such extreme mental illness seemed tiny.

But anorexia and bulimia, I quickly came to realize, come in all shapes and sizes (just like people, ba-dum-ching). And the chances of someone I know falling victim to them, I learned, were actually not so tiny. See statistics above and gasp with me. Plus, the college lifestyle comes with this heightened chance of those suffering from eating disorders being able to get away with it.

Between classes and opposing schedules and busy social scenes, it can be almost impossible to notice that a friend hasn’t eaten a solid meal in days. Or that she frequently regurgitates it afterward. It’s not so improbable that someone I know has one. And, even scarier, I might never notice if she does, especially in the case of bulimia, where victims rarely actually lose any weight.

What struck me above all else, though, was the age range eating disorders affect. As previously mentioned, the doctor told us that while it’s uncommon, eating disorders have been found in girls as young as 7 and 8 years old. Yes, 7 and 8 years old. That’s barely elementary school.

And what is perfectly common is to find them in girls of ages 13, 14, 15, 16. Approximately 11 percent of high school students have been diagnosed with an eating disorder, according to ANAD. No pun intended, but “gulp.”

Knowing this, we all have an unquestionable responsibility to raise awareness about the issue.

Eating disorders aren’t necessarily a “trendy” activist cause, like the environment or breast cancer (which are both also worthy). There is a tendency to blame the victim of an eating disorder and assume that they chose to adapt that lifestyle. But the truth is that science continues to prove how anorexia and bulimia arise from biological causes just like Parkinson’s or schizophrenia.

But anorexia and bulimia fight a battle that many other diseases never will. Dozens of online communities provide “support networks” for young girls with the disease, offering “thinspirational” tips on staying thin and encouragement in their journey with anorexia or bulimia.

Examples include brushing one’s teeth instead of eating or placing a picture of something disturbing or bloody next to one’s food to lose an appetite.

These young women, and many men, need our help. If you do one thing today, tell a friend what you just read about eating disorders. The more we understand about eating disorders, the better equipped we are to get help for our friends and families. And the more people fighting against eating disorders, the more aid becomes available for those who need it. It’s a race toward quality and quantity. I’m lucky to be able to say that I’ve never known anyone who has suffered from an eating disorder.

Unlike a column I wrote last fall about breast cancer, I’m not inspired to write this in the wake of a personal tragedy. But the information I learned from that family doctor invigorated me. It motivated me to spread the word. Don’t let the word stop here.

E-mail Carolyn at ceg36@pitt.edu.