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In the United States, 7 million women and girls have eating disorders. Eating disorders are less common in men and boys, but they do occur. The three main types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Eating disorders are serious problems. With proper medical care and counseling, they can be treated.

What are eating disorders?
Eating disorders are not fads and they are not diets. They are serious conditions that can lead to severs health problems — and even death. A person with an eating disorder is obsessed with food, body weight, and body shape. They also:

• Try to manage their weight in ways that are not healthy.
• Eat too little food or too much food.

Eating disorders affect the person as well as her family, friends and others around her. They can cause mental and social problems as well as physical problems.

Who gets eating disorders?
People of all backgrounds and ages can have eating disorders. These problems are most common among women and girls. They most often begin between the ages of 11 and 20.

Eating disorders are complex problems. There is no single cause, but dieting may trigger them. This does not mean that any person who diets has, or will have, an eating disorder.

People with eating disorders often:
• Have a fear of being fat.
• Have a distorted view of their body shape.
• Have low self-esteem; are depressed; unhappy with body.
• Want to be perfect.

Eating disorders often arise during stressful times, such as the teenage years. Leaving home or losing a loved one through death or divorce also is stressful.

Types of eating disorders
Anorexia nervosa (also called anorexia), bulimia nervosa (also called bulimia), and binge-eating disorder are the three main types of eating disorders. They often have different warning signs and result in different health problems.

A person with anorexia nervosa diets to extremes because she has a distorted body image. They want to be thin so badly that they may starve themselves — sometimes to death.

Anorexia can cause severe health problems, including:
• An irregular heartbeat, which can lead to heart failure and death
• Bone loss, which can lead to osteoporosis.
• Low body temperature.
• Low blood pressure.
• Kidney problems.
• A slowed metabolism.
• Slow reflexes.
• Absence of menstrual periods.
• Delay in reaching puberty.

About 5 percent to 10 percent of people die from problems caused by anorexia. It may lead to a heart attack, a coma or suicide.

Many people with anorexia also have bulimia at some point. In fact, about half of people with anorexia also have signs of bulimia, or vice versa.