Researchers say medical professionals need to do a better job of diagnosing eating disorders among obese and overweight adults 18 to 24 years old.
Obese and overweight young adults are twice as likely than their slimmer peers to try to control their weight through unhealthy means such as binging, purging, using laxatives, or forcing themselves to vomit.
那就是一个发现最近的研究from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children’s Hospitals.
研究人员分析了来自国家青少年纵向研究到成人健康的信息，其年龄在18至24岁之间。
They found that among young women, 29 percent in the obese or overweight category reported using unhealthy weight-control techniques, compared with 16 percent of underweight or healthy-weight women.
在年轻人中，肥胖或超重类别中不健康的体重控制技术的速度也更高，报告了15％的行为，而体重不足或健康重量类别中的行为也更高。
杰森经营博士,该研究的一位作者in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and the Eating Disorders Program at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, says eating disorders in overweight or obese young adults is not being properly diagnosed.
“我们的青少年和年轻的成年诊所正在照顾越来越多的肥胖症和饮食失调的年轻人。肥胖和饮食失调之间的交集不足。临床医生和父母应该意识到，超重或肥胖的年轻人可能会发生饮食失调。” Nagata告诉Healthline。雷竞技app官网
他补充说，这项研究强调，饮食失调不仅会影响十几岁的女孩。
“一个普遍的误解是，饮食失调仅发生在瘦女性中。我们表明，在肥胖症年轻人的饮食行为中，饮食行为比体重不足的年轻人比肥胖症年轻人多三倍以上。”
至少3000万美国的人们患有饮食失调。
Of all mental health illnesses, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate, with at least one person dying every 62 minutes as a direct result of an eating disorder.
Environmental factors, genetics, and personality traits are some of the factors that can contribute to creating a risk for an eating disorder.
In theUCSF研究，长田和他的同事发现饮食失调与种族和性取向之间存在联系。
在这项研究的14,322名年轻人中，那些被确定为同性恋，女同性恋或双性恋的年轻人的饮食可能性比被确定为异性恋的人高1.62倍。
“Sexual minorities have high rates of disordered eating behaviors and may experience greater dissatisfaction with their body image than their heterosexual counterparts,” Nagata said.
The young adults who reported that they were Asian/Pacific Islander were 1.66 times more likely to have disordered eating, compared with the young adults in the study who said they were white.
长塔说：“亚裔美国人和太平洋伊桑德人报告了暴饮暴食行为的最高速度，但是，这些症状可能被诊断不足，因为这些年轻人的人口可能会获得频繁的医疗服务。”
Getting a diagnosis for disordered eating can be difficult for a person who is overweight or obese.
国家饮食失调协会计划主任劳伦·史莫尔（Lauren Smolar）表示，这可能是由于医生对超重人的健康或习惯做出了错误的假设。
“With an over-emphasis on weight in the health community, it is especially difficult for a higher-weight person to be diagnosed with an eating disorder. This is especially true for those with higher-weight bodies struggling with atypical anorexia or other restrictive disorders. Too often, when someone presents in a higher-weight body, clinicians assume things about that person’s health behaviors, which may or may not be correct. We need to move toward a standard of care where everyone, regardless of weight, is assessed for all eating disorder symptoms,” she told Healthline.
对饮食失调的一个普遍误解是，它只会影响那些经历可见体重变化的人。
但是Smolar说并非总是如此。
“Across the weight spectrum, there may or may not be visible signs of disordered eating or eating disorders. Outward appearance and changes in appearance cannot be the only indicator used to determine whether someone is struggling. Often there is a lot of shame for someone struggling with disordered eating behaviors, and assuming a person’s health by how they may look means that a health professional may miss key warning signs,” she said.
Apart from changes in weight, some warning signs that a person may be struggling with disordered eating include consuming more or less food than normal, becoming secretive or uncomfortable around food, becoming obsessive or stressed about food, and withdrawing socially.
“Clinicians and parents should be aware that eating disorders occur in people who are overweight and obese. They should ask if and how young people are trying to lose weight and discourage unsafe practices, which can lead to severe illness and hospitalization,” Nagata said.
Dr. Vijaya Surampudi is an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Human Nutrition and works in the Center of Obesity and Metabolic Health at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). She says many people who are overweight can feel shame that prevents them from reaching out for help. It is then they turn to disordered eating.
“许多人认为，由于某人超重，他们吃得太多，没有自我控制。不幸的是，在我们工作的领域，我们知道这只是其他事物的症状。据说，食物是治疗焦虑或抑郁症的最过度使用的“药物”，运动是最不足的抗抑郁药。然后，许多人开始感到羞愧或无望寻求帮助，因此他们开始发展饮食模式以控制体重。”她告诉Healthline。雷竞技app官网
对于许多人来说，饮食混乱可能是一场终生的战斗。
“Many of my patients I see actually will self-report they have been dieting from childhood which was likely disordered eating or binging with restricting or purging. It is unfortunately a lifelong struggle with their relationship with food once it starts so early,” she said.
