Could Obese Teens be at a Higher Risk for Anorexia, Bulimia?

A recent study via the Mayo Clinic suggests that obese teenagers who lose weight could be at a higher risk for anorexia nervosa, bulimia and other eating disorders. In fact, researchers believe these conditions may often go undetected in families as signs of weight-loss progress.

"Given research that suggests early intervention promotes best chance of recovery, it is imperative that these children and adolescents' eating disorder symptoms are identified and intervention is offered before the disease progresses," Dr. Leslie Sim, an eating disorder expert at the Mayo Clinic Children's Center, said via the study.

Early intervention of such problems seems to be rare, according to the researchers, regarding eating disorder issues and once overweight teenagers. These disorders can be particularly dangerous as they have high relapse rates and can cause life-threatening complications or greatly disrupt everyday life.

And the study showed that, in fact, many adolescents who seek treatment regarding an eating disorder had a history of being overweight or obese. This can take doctors longer to diagnose.

"We think obese kids are at risk for eating disorders because they are getting a lot of media messages that they are not healthy and that there is something wrong with them and they need to change their ways," Sim said, via Newsday. "And because they are teens, they do extreme things."

"Whenever you see a kid losing weight, you have to see exactly how they are doing it," Dr. Metee Comkornruecha added via the news organization, an adolescent medicine specialist at Miami Children's Hospital. "Weight loss at any cost is not a good thing. They have to be doing it in a healthy manner, which means eating the right foods and exercising."

What do you think?