A study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California-San Francisco found that teens and young adults with atypical anorexia can have normal body weights and still be dangerously ill. The research is the largest, most comprehensive assessment to date of normal-weight adolescents with atypical anorexia.
Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by weight loss (or lack of appropriate weight gain in growing children); difficulties maintaining an appropriate body weight for height, age, and stature; and, in many individuals, disordered body image. People with anorexia generally restrict the number of calories and the types of food they eat. They may also obsess about burning calories by exercising excessively.
Traditionally, an person had to be below 85% of their ideal body weight to receive a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. In 2013, The DSM-5 (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition), made changes to feeding and eating disorders. It removed the diagnostic criteria of the absence of a menstrual cycle as part of the diagnosis for anorexia nervous.
The DSM-5 created a new category of eating disorder called atypical anorexia nervosa. People with this condition meet all the other diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa but have a normal body weight.
The study’s lead author, Neville Golden, MD, professor of pediatrics at the Stanford School of Medicine said: “Our study showed that they can be just as sick medically and psychologically as anorexia nervosa patients who are underweight.”
Parents need to be aware that their child or teenager could be suffering from anorexia nervosa and appear to have a normal body weight. The study found that in both typical and atypical cases, the signs of malnutrition appear the same. However, patients of normal or above-average weight may suffer longer before being noticed.
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