Abnormal eating habits have led to the emergence of many eating  disorders amongst today’s Gen Y. The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa which are affecting 1 to 4 out of 100 people in America. Insufficient eating and overeating has given rise to many other food related disorders like binge eating disorders, purging disorders, and food phobias to name a few. The reasons behind eating disorders are not clearly understood but it can be categorized as biological and psychological.

It was primarily thought that these eating disturbances are most commonly found in women but the recent report showed that it’s increasing all over the world amongst female as well as male. Let’s have a look at the eating disorders which are very common:

Anorexia Nervosa: People suffering from anorexia have an extreme fear of gaining weight. They are very conscious in maintaining their body shape and size and often end up in dieting, fasting or insufficient eating. Anorexia greatly affects the heart and also leads to bone loss. It can even stop menstruation and also increase the risk of death.

Bulimia Nervosa: It’s similar to anorexia; the only difference being insufficient intake of food for certain period of time is followed by overeating, forced vomiting or rigorous exercise to compensate. Another difference between anorexia and bulimia is that in anorexia people are generally underweight while in bulimia weight is either normal or more than usual. People with bulimia nervosa exhibit chronic gastric influx, dehydration, constipation, peptic ulcers and many other related symptoms.

Binge eating disorder: Excessive consumption of food without compensatory measures is termed as binge eating disorder. It is similar to anorexia and bulimia and involves overeating and weight gain. Here the person is unable to control his unhealthy eating pattern and eat large amount of food even when not feeling hungry.

Purging disorder: It is characterized by regular purging to control the weight and shape of the body. People suffering from this type of disorder are of normal weight as they do not overeat before purging. The reason behind this eating disturbance is significant level of distress that controls food intake.

Rumination: Though rumination is a part of normal digestion in ruminants, in human beings it’s a chronic eating disorder. It is characterized by effortless regurgitation of most meals without retching, nausea, abdominal pains or odors.

Eating disorders which are common are normally associated with emotional and physical changes. Sometimes eating disorders are genetic and run in a family as a result of Mendelian Inheritance. Depression, anxiousness, social isolation, peer pressure are some of the other factors behind unusual eating habits.

Eating disorder takes its toll in many ways, so it is very important to find out the reasons behind them and provide proper treatment to the sufferer. Therapy and counseling at the right stage can completely cure the eating disorders which are very common. Treatment varies with the person but family therapy shows significant result.

Image credit: coveringsmagazine.com, treatmentofdepression.org