Done-With-It!
07-03-2008, 08:27 PM
Thursday » July 3 » 2008
Youth eating disorders as serious as cancer
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/cahr/20080630/194777-66643.jpg?size=l
Cindy E. Harnett
Canwest News Service
Monday, June 30, 2008
Experts say eating disorders still aren't being taken seriously enough.
CREDIT: Herald Archive, Reuters
Experts say eating disorders still aren't being taken seriously enough.
Youth with eating disorders sometimes end up worse off than children with leukemia, but people still aren't treating the issue seriously, delegates at the 85th annual conference of the Canadian Paediatric Society were told last week.
"We have this thing that it's not really serious," said Dr. Leora Pinhas, a psychiatric director for the eating disorders program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
"But one in 10 will die. We need to act like it's a serious illness."
That said, most people with an eating disorder will recover, she said.
Pinhas dismissed the attention being given to childhood obesity rates -- which she says have not increased since 2003 and have not increased in any clinically significant way since the late 1990s.
The most disturbing thing about the constant news about obesity rates is it's likely fuelling eating disorders, Pinhas said.
"Dieting is the gateway to eating disorders. If you have people encouraged to diet because being fat is so bad, you're only giving them an intervention that will make them fat, or give them an eating disorder or make them feel bad about themselves."
The rates of clinically severe eating disorders are difficult to determine because there are only statistics available for disorders such as anorexia nervosa, which affects one per cent of youth, said Pinhas.
There is a wide range of eating disorders. They are estimated through school-based studies to add up to about 18 per cent, Pinhas said.
"That's one in six-ish," she said. "So that's pretty darn common, I'd say."
Pinhas and Dr. Christine Grant, an adolescent specialist and assistant professor at Hamilton's McMaster University, presented a seminar on practical approaches for doctors to detect early signs of eating disorders in children.
Grant explained "selective eating" or "picky eating" are very common problems in young children, affecting about 25 per cent -- an issue that greatly concerns parents.
Picky eaters generally eat a limited number of foods, require special preparation of foods, have a lower acceptance of new foods, are more inhibited about food and express special food preferences more often, Grant explained.
However, there's also a group of kids with selective eating disorder, a definition originating in England.
Those children deliberately avoid certain kinds of foods because they are afraid of them -- most commonly fruits and vegetables.
"They'll be very fearful and very slow in eating. It goes on for years, parents accommodate it, but the problem is those kids can lose weight or not grow, so their physical health can be affected and their psychological health hugely affected," Grant said.
If the child is avoiding some types of foods but is growing properly in terms of height and weight then usually there's no major cause for concern, Grant said.
However, at the other end of the spectrum are those for whom the behaviour becomes entrenched, almost a phobia, she said.
Rapid weight loss is a concern, and in growing children a failure to make appropriate gains in height and weight indicates the severity of the malnutrition, the presenters said.
Nutritional supplements are OK for the very active growing child who just needs a "top up," but are not recommended as a substitute for food or a way of resolving an eating disorder, they said.
As one way to prevent or treat eating disorders, families have to look at how they spend time together and prioritize family meals, making them more of a ritual and a time to connect, Grant said.
Moreover, parents must remember they are role models.
"How we feel about our bodies, how we feel about food and our behaviours speak louder than any kind of verbal message we give our children," Grant said.
© The Calgary Herald 2008
Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
Youth eating disorders as serious as cancer
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/cahr/20080630/194777-66643.jpg?size=l
Cindy E. Harnett
Canwest News Service
Monday, June 30, 2008
Experts say eating disorders still aren't being taken seriously enough.
CREDIT: Herald Archive, Reuters
Experts say eating disorders still aren't being taken seriously enough.
Youth with eating disorders sometimes end up worse off than children with leukemia, but people still aren't treating the issue seriously, delegates at the 85th annual conference of the Canadian Paediatric Society were told last week.
"We have this thing that it's not really serious," said Dr. Leora Pinhas, a psychiatric director for the eating disorders program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
"But one in 10 will die. We need to act like it's a serious illness."
That said, most people with an eating disorder will recover, she said.
Pinhas dismissed the attention being given to childhood obesity rates -- which she says have not increased since 2003 and have not increased in any clinically significant way since the late 1990s.
The most disturbing thing about the constant news about obesity rates is it's likely fuelling eating disorders, Pinhas said.
"Dieting is the gateway to eating disorders. If you have people encouraged to diet because being fat is so bad, you're only giving them an intervention that will make them fat, or give them an eating disorder or make them feel bad about themselves."
The rates of clinically severe eating disorders are difficult to determine because there are only statistics available for disorders such as anorexia nervosa, which affects one per cent of youth, said Pinhas.
There is a wide range of eating disorders. They are estimated through school-based studies to add up to about 18 per cent, Pinhas said.
"That's one in six-ish," she said. "So that's pretty darn common, I'd say."
Pinhas and Dr. Christine Grant, an adolescent specialist and assistant professor at Hamilton's McMaster University, presented a seminar on practical approaches for doctors to detect early signs of eating disorders in children.
Grant explained "selective eating" or "picky eating" are very common problems in young children, affecting about 25 per cent -- an issue that greatly concerns parents.
Picky eaters generally eat a limited number of foods, require special preparation of foods, have a lower acceptance of new foods, are more inhibited about food and express special food preferences more often, Grant explained.
However, there's also a group of kids with selective eating disorder, a definition originating in England.
Those children deliberately avoid certain kinds of foods because they are afraid of them -- most commonly fruits and vegetables.
"They'll be very fearful and very slow in eating. It goes on for years, parents accommodate it, but the problem is those kids can lose weight or not grow, so their physical health can be affected and their psychological health hugely affected," Grant said.
If the child is avoiding some types of foods but is growing properly in terms of height and weight then usually there's no major cause for concern, Grant said.
However, at the other end of the spectrum are those for whom the behaviour becomes entrenched, almost a phobia, she said.
Rapid weight loss is a concern, and in growing children a failure to make appropriate gains in height and weight indicates the severity of the malnutrition, the presenters said.
Nutritional supplements are OK for the very active growing child who just needs a "top up," but are not recommended as a substitute for food or a way of resolving an eating disorder, they said.
As one way to prevent or treat eating disorders, families have to look at how they spend time together and prioritize family meals, making them more of a ritual and a time to connect, Grant said.
Moreover, parents must remember they are role models.
"How we feel about our bodies, how we feel about food and our behaviours speak louder than any kind of verbal message we give our children," Grant said.
© The Calgary Herald 2008
Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.