Edward Cumella, director of research and education at the ranch, notes that children and seniors are especially susceptible to complications caused by the disorders as their bodies are not as resilient as those of teens or adults. The article also notes that ongoing research points to the fact that most people who die from anorexia nervosa are senior citizens.



Further studies indicate that children, both male and female, are developing these disorders in large numbers. Sixty-three percent of teachers in the United States, notes the article, indicate that eating disorders have become a problem in their schools. Children with these disorders are at great risk for complications and may even cause their growth to be stunted permanently, notes the article.

Alarmingly, fifty to seventy-five percent of pre-teen girls are currently dieting or have dieted in the past.  This makes them eight times more likely to develop eating disorders, the article points out.

Women in their midlife years also represent a group for which eating disorders has grown rapidly.  The article suggests that the reasons for the four-hundred-percent increase in eating disorders within this age group may be caused by a number of factors including marital stress or divorce, illness or death of a parent, death of a sibling or those in the afflicted’s peer group, and trauma over the affects of aging, including weight gain, which is to be expected as one advances in years.