Causes of Eating Disorders

Eating disorder is characterized by some extreme changes in eating behavior such as overeating or extremely reduced food intake, due to extreme distress or a persistent fear of weight gain. A person with eating disorder tends to eat a very small amount of food or unusually excess quantity of food. Eating disorders usually co-exist with some other psychological disorders such as anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse. The major types of eating disorders are bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa with several subtypes. ‘Eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS)’ is another type of eating disorders, which is characterized by several variations in eating behaviors. Binge-eating disorder is one of the types of EDNOS. Eating disorders are more common in adolescence or young childhood. Women and girls are more likely to develop these disorders. However, binge-eating disorder affects both men and women. People with eating disorders can suffer from a number of health problems including kidney failure or heart problems, which can even lead to death.

Causes of Eating Disorders
There are a number of causes of eating disorders including biological, psychological and social factors. Cultural and family pressures as well as personality and emotional disorders also contribute to develop eating disorders. Listed below are some of the common causes of eating disorders:

• Major life transitions: Many people are not able to cope up with some major changes in the life. Some transitions such as entering high school or college, puberty, major illness or death of beloved one can make them feel depressed. As a result, they start excess eating or denying food.
• Emotional and psychological health: Several emotional and psychological problems can contribute to develop eating disorders. Such people may have perfectionism, low self-esteem, anger management difficulties, impulsive behaviors, family conflicts and troubled relationships.
• Biological problems: Some people are genetically susceptible to develop eating disorders. People from disordered families are more prone to eating disorders. Serotonin, a naturally occurring chemical in the brain, influences the eating behaviors, as it is involved in the regulation of food intake.
• Sociocultural problems: Most people who develop eating disorders are found to be going through a painful experience of being teased about their obesity. Such people may face an embarrassing situation of relationship breakup. Then they start to believe that it’s all because of their obesity and they start to take hard efforts for the weight loss.
• Traumatic events: People with eating disorders can have a history of physical or sexual abuse. Such people tend to lose weight to lose their secondary sexual characteristics, so that they can avoid further sexual attention. Major injury or illness can also lead to feeling out of control. Bulimia and anorexia can result from attempting to distract themselves from such trauma.
• Other psychiatric illnesses: According to the latest research, some people develop eating disorders in response to other psychiatric symptoms, occurred previously. These symptoms are typically triggered biologically. In such cases, eating disorders can be a reaction to the biological problems.

Some of the risk factors for eating disorders are gender, age, family influences, emotional disorders, dieting and media and society. Teenage girls and young women are more likely to develop eating disorders. Excessive dieting for the sake of weight loss and a thin figure may also result in developing eating disorders.