Our society s obsession with these questions reveal a growing public awareness of anorexia nervosa and related eating disorders, which affect between 5 million and 8 million Americans. Unfortunately, awareness alone is not enough to eliminate or diminish the impact of these sometimes deadly disorders, experts say.
Society still embraces thinness as a top priority.
However, health professionals have come a long way in understanding eating disorders. Anorexia is usually identified in patients who have lost about 15 percent of their normal body weight for their height over a short time period. Most anorexics claim they feel overweight even when emaciated. Control issues Researchers have studied the causes of anorexia and related eating disorders extensively. A young person could be reacting against an overprotective family or reacting to rejection from peers, for example.