Among children younger than 12 with eating disorders, hospitalizations jumped 119 per cent between 1999 and 2006, says the clinical report in Monday's edition of the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is estimated 0.5 per cent of adolescent girls in the United States have anorexia nervosa (self-starvation), and one to two per cent meet criteria for bulimia nervosa (binging and purging).
Dr. David Rosen with the University of Michigan suggests Pediatricians become advocates for legislation and policies that ensure appropriate services for patients with eating disorders, including medical care, nutritional intervention, mental-health treatment and care co-ordination. With the increasing recognition of eating disorders in males, they now make up 10 per cent of all cases. The disorders are increasingly seen in children.
A 2001 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that of 1,739 Ontario school girls aged 12 to 18:
-27% said they engaged in binging or purging.
-23% said they were dieting.
-8% reported self-induced vomiting.
What can doctors do to help? Doctors can help prevent eating disorders by stressing proper nutrition and exercise to avoid an unhealthy focus on weight and dieting, the report's authors said in outlining diagnostic criteria for disordered eating. Doctors and Pediatricians are encouraged to advocate for legislation and policies that ensure appropriate services for patients with eating disorders, including medical care, nutritional intervention, mental-health treatment and care co-ordination.
Dr. Leora Pinhas, psychiatric director of the eating disorder clinic at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children has seen kids who are stunted, kids who haven't grown in two years. Many of these kids are ONLY IN 2nd GRADE! They're still the same height they were in kindergarten. And if it's affecting their height, it's affecting everything inside their body, including their brain.
Ready for this?
November 29, 2010
Among children younger than 12 with eating disorders, hospitalizations jumped 119 per cent between 1999 and 2006, says the clinical report in Monday's edition of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
It is estimated 0.5 per cent of adolescent girls in the United States have anorexia nervosa (self-starvation), and 1-2% meet criteria for bulimia nervosa (binging and purging).
Now, with this percentage on the rise of the young kids and eating disorders, I think it is time we step back as parents, educators or advocates and realize the importance of awareness. This is why we have Body Rocks.
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