Instead they uphold super-thin images as their ideal. The results can be deadly. Roughly 10 percent of anorexics die of medical complications from lack of food, or from suicide. Females aren't the only victims. In the past few years more males have been diagnosed with eating disorders as well.
Doctors often treat anorexics and bulimics with prescription drugs and psychotherapy.
But a new treatment may result from studies at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. When researchers injected the hormones into rats' brains, the animals ate 8 to 10 times more food than normal within a few hours. Scientists hope drugs that mimic orexin might increase hunger in anorexics and induce them to eat. After all, the body demands food to get the nutrients it needs to produce energy, build tissue, and just survive.