healthy kids
Beyond Picky Eating Help for Pediatric Eating Disorders
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by Marlaina Donato
M
ost kids go through food phases and bouts of fussiness during mealtime, but more serious problems can lurk beneath the surface of such all-too-common behaviors. Eating disorders are often associated with teen and adult females, but children of any gender under 12 can be afflicted with anorexia nervosa, bulimia and other conditions unique to younger kids. “Eating disorders used to be primarily a college-aged issue; now eating disorders show up in young teens and even children as young as 5 years old,” says Marcia Herrin, a dietitian and nutritional counselor in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and author of Nutrition Counseling in the Treatment of Eating Disorders and co-author of The Parent’s Guide to Eating Disorders. Consequences of childhood eating disorders can include permanently stunted growth, impaired immunity, hypoglycemia and delayed puberty, but healing from an eating disorder can occur with early detection, quality care and proactive efforts by the family. Current research has broadened the medical definition, allowing earlier
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diagnosis and prevention, reports the New York City-based National Eating Disorders Association.
More than Body Image While eating disorders are fueled by many factors, each child is an individual, and so any child’s struggles around food will be particular to them. Herrin, the founder of the Dartmouth College Eating Disorders Prevention, Education and Treatment program, says, “It is important for parents to know that the main risk factor for developing an eating disorder is genetic. This
