There is a common opinion that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice. Eating disorders are, in fact, serious and often fatal illnesses that cause severe disturbances in a person’s eating behaviors. Obsessions with food, body weight, and shape can also indicate an eating disorder. Common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder.Anorexia
People with anorexia nervosa may see themselves as overweight, even when they are dangerously underweight. Individuals with anorexia nervosa often weigh themselves repeatedly, severely restrict the amount of food they consume, and ingest very small amounts of only certain foods, resulting in the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder. While many young women and men with this disorder 
die from complications associated with starvation, others die by suicide. In women, suicide is much more common in those with anorexia than with most other mental disorders.
The symptoms include:
• Extreme thinness (weight loss);
• An incessant pursuit of thinness and unwillingness to maintain a normal or healthy weight;
• Intense fear of gaining weight;
• Distorted body image, self-esteem heavily influenced by perception of weight and body shape, or denial of the seriousness of low body weight;
• Thinning bones (osteopenia or osteoporosis);
• Mild anemia and loss of muscle mass and weakness;
• Brittle hair and nails;
• Dry and yellowed skin;
• Growth of fine hair all over the body (lanugo);
• Severe constipation;
• Low blood pressure, slow breathing, and pulse;
• Damage to the structure and function of the heart;
• Brain damage;
• Multiple organ failure;
• Drop in internal body temperature, causing the person to feel cold all the time;
• Lethargy, slowness, or fatigue all the time;
• Infertility.
Bulimia
People with bulimia nervosa have recurrent and frequent episodes of consuming extraordinarily large amounts of food and feel a lack of control over these episodes. This binge eating is followed by a behavior that compensates for the excess 
of food, such as forced vomiting, excessive use of laxatives or diuretics, fasting, excessive exercise, or a combination of these behaviors. Unlike anorexia nervosa, individuals with bulimia nervosa typically maintain what is considered a healthy or relatively normal weight. The symptoms include:
• Persistent sore throat;
• Swollen salivary glands in the neck and jaw area;
• Worn dental enamel and increasingly sensitive and decaying teeth as a result of exposure to stomach acid;
• Acid reflux disorder and other gastrointestinal problems;
• Intestinal distress and irritation from laxative abuse;
• Severe dehydration from purging fluids;
• Electrolyte imbalance (very low or very high levels of sodium, calcium, potassium, and other minerals) that can lead to stroke or heart attack;
• Feeling distressed, ashamed, or guilty about their eating;
• Frequently dieting, possibly without weight loss.
Risk Factors
Eating disorders often appear during adolescence or young adulthood, but can also develop during childhood or later in life. These disorders affect both sexes, although the rates among women are higher than among men. Just as women with eating disorders, men also have a distorted sense of body image. For example, men may have muscle dysmorphia, a type of disorder marked by an extreme concern about becoming more muscular.
Researchers are discovering that eating disorders are caused by a complex interaction of genetic, biological, behavioral, psychological, and social factors.
Proper nutrition, reducing excessive exercise, and interrupting purging behaviors are the foundations of treatment. Treatment plans are tailored to individual needs and may include one or more of the following:
• Individual, group, and/or family psychotherapy;
• Medical care and monitoring;
• Nutritional counseling;
• Medications.
Isaura La Cour
Journalist
isaurathebrasilians@gmail.com