Docs Demand Crackdown on Pro-Anorexia Websites

3% of teens affected by binge-eating, bulimia, or anorexia

(NEWSER) - An eating disorder study being billed as the largest analysis of US teens ever is returning some depressingly large numbers: More than half a million have had an eating disorder, according to government research. Binge-eating was the most common disorder, found in 1.5% of teens studied, followed by bulimia (1%) and anorexia (0.3%); another 3% had bothersome symptoms, but not a full-fledged disorder. While the percentages may seem low, they're actually slightly higher than what have been observed in other studies, reports the AP . More»

Study: The more time teen girls spend on network, greater their chances

(NEWSER) - The eating-disorder blame game has a new player: Facebook. A study has found that the more time teen girls spend on the social network, the greater their risk of developing anorexia or bulimia. The researchers asked 248 girls, ages 12 to 19, about their Internet and TV habits, and eating thoughts and behavior. The researchers found that the more time girls spent on Facebook, the more likely they were to suffer from a laundry list of eating issues, from disorders to an increased urge to keep to a strict diet, reports the Daily Mail . More»

(NEWSER) - At the height of her figure skating career, former Four Continents Champion Jennifer Kirk had a secret. “Unfortunately, my secret wasn’t very unique,” she writes for True/Slant. “I had an eating disorder.” And so did many of her friends. “The skating world fostered the disease and made the completely horrible things I was doing to my body seem ‘normal.’” More»

(NEWSER) - Michael Jackson was so emaciated that he weighed just 112 pounds when he died, reports the Sun. The coroner found nothing in the singer's stomach but pills, and his body was riddled with needle marks, presumably from narcotics injections. The battered star also bared the scars of endless plastic surgeries and wore a wig over remaining "peach fuzz" on his head, said a witness. People "will be horrified when they realize the appalling state he was in," said a source. More»

Eating disorders increasingly blending with substance abuse, experts say

(NEWSER) - Drunkorexia isn't an official medical term, reports the New York Times, but the disorder is on a growing list of afflictions that combine societal acceptance of substance abuse and pressure to be thin. Drunkorexics, who are typically college-age women, shun food to prevent weight gain and to offset the calories they consume in alcohol. More»