Urgent action call as six-year olds develop eating disorders

Published on Thursday 31 March 2011 17:19

CHILDREN as young as six are developing eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, according to a new report which calls for "urgent action" to improve detection among young people.

The previous belief that eating disorders were linked to the onset of puberty has been overthrown by the study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry that reveals that three in every 100,000 children under 13 in Britain have some sort of eating disorder.

Experts from University College London's Institute of Child Health have, for the first time, carried out extensive research into the prevalence of eating disorders among those aged five to 13. Using more than 3,000 contacts, including hospital, university and community consultant paediatricians and psychiatrists, the team was able to build up a picture of disordered eating in the very young.

Over a 14-month period, 208 cases of "early-onset" eating disorders were confirmed, with 82 per cent affecting girls and 18 per cent affecting boys.

Some 37 per cent of the young children were suffering from anorexia, in which the sufferer refuses to eat for fear putting on weight and has a distorted body image, about 1 per cent had bulimia, which involves binge eating and vomiting, or were over-eaters (although this is thought to be an underestimate) and 43 per cent had some other sort of eating disorder. The remaining 19 per cent had symptoms of disordered eating, such as avoiding food, but were not preoccupied with their weight or shape.

Overall, 96 per cent of children avoided food, while 84 per cent were said to have a "morbid preoccupation with food". Some 71 per cent feared gaining weight, 67 per cent were preoccupied with their weight, 51 per cent with their body shape and 43 per cent with excessive exercising. Some children used laxatives, made themselves sick or were binge-eaters, the study found, with the youngest sufferer just six.

Yesterday Dr Dasha Nicholls, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist who led the research, said: "Our study gives the first estimate of the incidence of early-onset eating disorders in UK and Irish children. It is too early to say if there has been a rise in the numbers of children with eating disorders in recent years. For a minority of children, it may be the start of a severe and enduring illness, with death rates comparable to some forms of leukaemia."

Dr Alex Yellowlees, medical director of the Priory hospital in Glasgow, said that although the patients he treats are over 16 years old their problems with food can begin much younger."Eating disorders are often related to body image concerns and we are seeing these issues come up in younger people."

Georgie Bevin was diagnosed with anorexia at 12 and her mother, Charlotte, was forced to pay for her to be treated privately at a cost of 6,000 per week when her condition grew so severe that she stopped drinking water.

Mrs Bevin, who lives in England, said: "She is recovering today, but there is just not enough help available for parents whose children are suffering from these terrible problems. I know a lady in Scotland who has a seven-year-old daughter with anorexia and she is not getting the help she needs."