America's Children Are Dying To Lose Weight

Wasting away, Katie died weighing only 58 pounds. And she was sixteen. That just doesn't seem possible to me when I look at my seven-year-old daughter who weighs in at about 55 pounds. Anorexia is a medical enigma. Although there is little concrete evidence of what actually causes anorexia, most experts agree that there are several contributing risk factors. We believe that awareness of these risk factors can reduce the odds that they will be triggered so we are hopeful that this information will save lives. If you're a parent or a teacher, you need to read on…

Word has it around town that Katie had been told by a high school teacher that "she needed to go on a diet." So she did. Certainly this one comment didn't cause this young lady to spin out of control with dieting but it might have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Negative comments about body type and size from authority figures, teachers, coaches and parents, can have a big impact on an adolescent child's self-esteem and are implicated as possible triggers in studies on anorexia. Never underestimate the power of the spoken word to heal… or kill…

Eating disorders (bulimia and anorexia) have historically been considered a girl problem but the pendulum is swinging. Anorexia is being diagnosed more frequently in boys, too. Young boys are becoming more body image conscious than in previous generations. Case in point: my nine-year-old son has come home from school upset on several occasions because kids have called him fat. He is far from fat; in fact, he has cystic fibrosis so we are grateful for any extra padding he has and work very hard to keep his weight as high as possible. His diet is exactly the opposite of what everyone else is eating, filled with high fat, high calorie foods. Jacob understands the importance of complying with his dietary requirements but it can be hard for him to go against the norm.

With the emphasis on childhood obesity and diabetes, children are thankfully becoming more aware of the necessity of good nutrition and weight control. But I wonder if there is a price to be paid by children who are predisposed to eating disorders. With the media, parents, doctors, schools and peers emphasizing being thin and high achieving, it will be unfortunate if the numbers of children diagnosed with anorexia accelerates.

The difficulty lies in knowing which children are predisposed to eating disorders. As our society addresses the obesity issue, are we unknowingly putting some children at risk for eating disorders? How can we address the very real, very troublesome problems associated with the alarmingly increasing body mass index of our young children without triggering other children's potential for becoming anorexic?

This is a problem every parent of every child should consider. Research shows that about 6% of young people suffer from an eating disorder and this figure is thought to be low. The next time you are at a school assembly, look around. There are likely to be at least 10 kids there who have an eating disorder. One of them may even be your own. It is thought that the "anorexic mentality" is in place long before there is physical evidence of the disease. Has your thirteen -year-old been on a diet lately? Stats say that there is an 80% likelihood that she has been. Dieting at a young age puts children at risk for anorexia.

The cause of an eating disorder in any one child is unclear because multiple factors appear to play a role. Genetic factors, family interaction patterns, and the individual's own character and personality have all been implicated. But to summarize the problem in a single sentence, it appears that the illness is a response to coping with stress in genetically predisposed children who are filled with denial about their feelings and weight. There! Quick, short, concise, and anything but simple. This single sentence has many implications for parents and parenting. Let's take a brief look at each of these contributing factors individually and provide parenting responses that might be helpful in combating eating disorders.

1. The Genetic Factor in Eating Disorders

2. Anorexia and Bulimia as a Way of Coping with Stress

3. Psychological Factors in Eating Disorders

4. The Role of the Family

5. Societal Influences

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure particularly where eating disorders are concerned. At this time, there is no cure for anorexia. And America's children are dying to lose weight.