Dr. Wood: Eating disorders are not limited to young women

Karen Carpenter was an American singer and drummer in the 1970s group The Carpenters. She died after losing a long battle with anorexia nervosa, one of the most commonly known eating disorders.

Since that time, there have been great advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders, but myths about them still persist.

Many people believe that an eating disorder is when a person, usually a young girl, just won’t eat enough food. Perhaps that person exercises excessively (often losing a drastic amount of weight in a short period of time), or eats too much food and then vomits on purpose.

However, eating disorders affect more than just young girls, and include a wide variety of food and eating issues. In fact, millions of Americans suffer from eating disorders, and anyone can be affected. In the United States, a 2011 study determined that 20 million women and 10 million men will suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their lives.


Source :- theolympian