close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffCertain situations and events might increase the risk of developing an eating disorder. These risk factors may include:
- Being female. Girls and women are more likely to have bulimia than boys and men are.
- Age. Bulimia often begins in late adolescence or early adulthood. Bulimia is more common in college students than in younger teens.
- Family history. Eating disorders, such as bulimia, are more likely to occur in people who have parents or siblings who've had an eating disorder.
- Dieting. People who lose weight are often reinforced by positive comments from others and by their changing appearance. This may cause some people to take dieting too far, leading to bulimia.
- Family influences. People who feel less secure in their families, whose parents and siblings may be overly critical, or whose families tease them about their appearance are at higher risk of bulimia and other eating disorders.
- Emotional disorders. People with depression, anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder are more likely to have an eating disorder.
- Sports, work and artistic activities. Athletes, actors and television personalities, dancers, and models are at higher risk of eating disorders, such as bulimia. Eating disorders are particularly common among ballerinas, gymnasts, runners and wrestlers. Coaches and parents may unwittingly contribute to eating disorders by encouraging young athletes to lose weight.
References
- Eating disorders. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. http://psychiatryonline.com/content.aspx?aID=3610. Accessed Nov. 2, 2009.
- Walsh BT. Eating disorders. In: Fauci AS, et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 17th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2865564. Accessed Nov. 1, 2009.
- Steffen KJ, et al. A survey of herbal and alternative medication use among participants with eating disorder symptoms. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 2006:39;741.
- Forman SF. Eating disorders: Epidemiology, pathogenesis and clinical features. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 2, 2009.
- Gwirtsman HE, et al. Eating disorders. In: Ebert MH, et al. Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Psychiatry. 2nd ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Co.; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3288493. Accessed Nov. 1, 2009.
- Forman SF. Eating disorders: Treatment and outcome. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 2, 2009.
- Sim LA, et al. Family-based therapy for adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2004;79:1305.
- Douglass L. Yoga as an intervention in the treatment of eating disorders: Does it help? Eating Disorders. 2009;17:126.
- Sim LA (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dec. 18, 2009.
Find Mayo Clinic on