If you are a parent or a loved one of a child suffering from signs of anorexia, knowing the symptoms, health risks and treatment options could save your child’s life. Anorexia is a serious psychological disorder that, if left untreated, can lead to death. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, roughly 5% of young women suffer from an eating disorder and up to 15% of young women suffer from unhealthy attitudes and behaviors toward food.

Fashion Industry Focuses on “Thin”
In 1960 Twiggy, an English supermodel, came on the scene with a rail-thin, waiflike look that took the fashion world by storm. Within a decade, every woman was trying to be the same wafer-thin woman she saw on the cover of just about every magazine. By the time 1983 rolled around and Karen Carpenter died from a heart condition caused by anorexia, this eating disorder had already reached epidemic proportions.

Because we are a society based primarily on appearance, girls tend to become anorexic more often than boys. In the United States the age of 17 has been pinpointed as the age when a child is most likely to develop anorexia, although female patients as young as 11 and as old as 68 have been diagnosed in recent years.

The most disturbing fact about this disease is that is can be fatal. And once an individual has acquired anorexia, much like alcoholism, he or she must battle the disease for the remainder of his or her life.

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