Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Ten Percent of Adolescent Girls Admit to Either Binge Eating or Purging

According to the June 9, 2008 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, one in ten teenage girls either binge eats or purges at least once a week. The incidence of purging was highest among younger adolescent girls. Binge eating among boys was 3%, and boys were less likely to engage in purging. Alison E. Field, ScD, associate professor of pediatrics, in the division of adolescent medicine at Children’s Hospital, Boston, in Massachusetts said, “I would believe that 10% [of girls] would at least experiment with these behaviors, but once a week is quite severe.” The authors also found that girls who diet frequently and are concerned about their weight are at greater risk for developing eating disorders. Girls, younger than 14, were three times as likely to binge or purge if their mother had a history of an eating disorder.

Source: MedHeadlines
http://medheadlines.com/2008/06/13/ten-percent-of-adolescent-girls-admit-to-either-binge-eating-or-purging/

For more information about eating disorders and how to deal with them, click on the following article titles:

Information on Eating Disorders

Dealing with Eating Disorders and Diet Pills

Patterns: Vomiting Raises Risk of Irregular Periods

As a parent, if you become aware that your daughter has irregular periods, you'll want to dig a bit deeper to see whether or not there is also any indication of vomiting as a means of weight control...

Teenage girls who vomit one to three times a month to control weight increase their risk of having irregular menstrual periods by 60 percent, a new study reports; those who vomit once a week or more triple their risk. When researchers restricted the analysis only to girls of normal weight, the association was even stronger.

Researchers analyzed self-reported data from 2,791 girls ages 14 to 19 nationwide. Almost 9 percent reported vomiting for weight control one to three times a month; an additional 3.1 percent vomited once a week or more. The report appears in the May issue of The Journal of Adolescent Health.

S. Bryn Austin, the lead author and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard, said that about two million teenage girls a year vomit for weight control. “A girl may keep the vomiting a secret, but may talk about her irregular menses. If she does, this presents an opportunity to intervene.”

Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/health/research/27patt.html?