A fussy eater may be dealing with bigger problems than not liking what's on their plate, according to a study presented at a conference in Vancouver organized by the Eating Disorders Association of Canada.
Led by clinical psychologist Prof. Dominique Meilleur, the study sought to question the development and diagnosis of eating disorders. Take bulimia, for instance. A lot of researchers believe it manifests only during adolescence but the study indicates that the condition can arise earlier. With awareness lacking, it's possible the problem is being under-diagnosed.
The National Institutes of Mental Health defines eating disorders as illnesses that lead to dramatic disturbances to a person's daily diet. They can appear in the form of eating extremely small quantities of food or severe overeating and are increasingly being proven to be caused by a combination of social, psychological, behavioral, biological, and genetic factors. Eating disorders may even exist alongside anxiety disorders, substance abuse, or depression.
Prof. Meilleur and her colleagues analyzed the psysiological, sociodemographic, and psychological characteristics of 215 children with eating problems aged between 8 and 12. Children with physical issues that can affect eating problems like cystic fibrosis or diabetes were not included in the study.
Researchers learned that 95 percent of the subjects had restrictive eating behaviors while 69.4 percent feared gaining weight and 46.6 percent identified themselves as being fat.
More than half of the children (52 percent) have also been hospitalized before at least once because of an eating problem while 48 percent underwent outpatient treatment for the same reason. In 36.3 percent of the cases, psychiatric issues have also been observed in the children's families.
For 22.7 percent of the children, being insulted or mocked for how they looked were seen as the trigger that prompted modifications in eating behaviors.
According to Meilleur, the results of the study reflect observances seen in adolescents, supporting the idea that preoccupation with body image can happen even to children in elementary school, affecting both boys and girls.
"These results are very concerning but they may help clinicians reach a diagnosis earlier by enabling them to investigate these aspects," she adds.
While both boys and girls can succumb to eating disorders at a young age, it's possible for symptoms to manifest differently. For example, where most girls typically worry about gaining weight, boys will want to buff up and become more muscular. More research will have to be done to explore eating disorders in men because studies typically focus on women.
