Eating Disorders
Eating Disorders Easier to Tackle Now than Later

(November 4, 2004) - Even if they have never experienced it firsthand, most parents will tell you that what they fear most is an unexpected phone call about a child in serious trouble.

First comes distress and panic, followed by confusion about what to do. When the call is from the college your child is attending, firmly requesting that you come and get your child because she has an eating disorder and can no longer remain in school, and may even have to be hospitalized, the confusion about what to do is compounded. When did that start? How long has that been going on?

The fact is, eating disorders are silent devastators of the lives of young people, mostly young women, but also young men. And the incidence is escalating across the industrialized world, reaching downwards to ever younger age groups. Fifty-one percent of 9-10 year-old girls feel better about themselves when they are dieting. Nine percent of 9-year-old girls have vomited to lose weight. Eighty-one percent of 10-year-old girls are afraid of being fat. These are disturbing statistics.

We don't need to ask why — the answers lie all around us. Images of models, rock, and film stars are manipulated by computer and have no basis in reality. Our culture has an unhealthy focus on perpetual youth, good looks and body image. And the consumer industry sells hard to young people, starting in early childhood and becoming relentless in the middle and high school years — years that are already a challenge for children to navigate.

The other side of the coin is just as problematic. We are a nation addicted to fast food, junk food, and lots of sugar, salt, and empty calories. Parents are increasingly busy, with little time or inclination to cook from scratch. This puts our young people in the classic double-bind of being told one thing — be thin and healthy — at the same time that the food industry is piling store shelves with products that may be easy to eat and prepare but are neither healthy nor nutritious. Finally, the increasing focus on what we own and how we look rather than how we feel about ourselves inside, sends a message to children that simply compounds the other problems.

The solution is not to wait. We parents are the key, but we must be given the tools we need, and we must start early. Eating disorders such as obesity, binge eating, anorexia, and bulimia are mostly preventable, and certainly easier to tackle now than later.

Francesca Calderone-Steichen, MPH, is health educator for the Hopewell Township Health Department.

Related Information

• Dying to Be Thin: Waltham Program Treats Patients with Eating Disorders
• First Steps to Curb Eating Disorders Among Top Athletes
• Couple Speaks of Daughter's Fatal Eating Disorder
• Abused Girls at Risk of Later Eating Disorders
•  New Treatment Achieves 75% Remission in Eating Disorders
• Topamax, Zonegran - Treatments for Binge Eating and Bulimia
• Obesity Risk Doubled for Kids of Obese Moms
• New Treatment Program for Eating Disorders: Exercise!
• Thinspiration: Pro-Anorexia Movement Flourishes Online

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