Prevalence of Eating Disorders
Results from a large-scale national survey suggest that binge-eating disorder is more prevalent than both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The study, published in the February 1, 2007, issue of Biological Psychiatry, was based on data gleaned from the NIMH-funded National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), a nationally representative survey conducted between February 2001 and December 2003.
Anorexia nervosa is characterized by emaciation, a relentless pursuit of thinness and extremely disturbed eating behaviors, such as deliberate self-starvation. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by recurrent and frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food (binging) during which a person feels a lack of control over the eating, followed by purging behavior such as vomiting, fasting, use of diuretics (water pills), or excessive exercise. Binge-eating disorder is characterized by recurrent binge-eating episodes during which a person feels a loss of control similar to bulimia. Unlike bulimia, however, binge-eating episodes are not followed by purging, excessive exercise or fasting.
Further details and findings associated with this topic are found at Eating Disorders.
Anorexia nervosa is characterized by emaciation, a relentless pursuit of thinness and extremely disturbed eating behaviors, such as deliberate self-starvation. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by recurrent and frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food (binging) during which a person feels a lack of control over the eating, followed by purging behavior such as vomiting, fasting, use of diuretics (water pills), or excessive exercise. Binge-eating disorder is characterized by recurrent binge-eating episodes during which a person feels a loss of control similar to bulimia. Unlike bulimia, however, binge-eating episodes are not followed by purging, excessive exercise or fasting.
Further details and findings associated with this topic are found at Eating Disorders.
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