The National Institute of Mental Health in the U.S. look at eating problems such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating as a sub-category of mental problem. The biggest reason for this is that eating problems are generally psychological since people that experience the aforementioned problems started with a wrong perception of body image. In fact, anorexia nervosa has a high prevalence rate as an eating condition. When we say prevalence, it means the whole number of cases in the population. Prevalence can also signify scope or extent of a condition within a given population over a set period. Annually, health departments in every countries typically report the prevalence rate of illnesses on annual basis. The prevalence rate is fundamental for the medical community since they could examine if a several disorder has been contained or it has developed into alarming proportions. Even health insurers also need statistical facts about ailments.

Listed here are the statistical accounts on anorexia ( as noted by NIMH):

In the U.S., 6 percent of the adult population possesses a high possibility of struggling with anorexia that is relatively three times more than the rate for other eating disorders like bulimia as well as binge eating.

Girls have two times the quantity of possibility in getting an eating disorder. This maybe brought on by wrong perception of body image as well as low self-esteem. The media bombards the television as well as print ads with svelte bodies of models that most women consider as the standard of a sound body. Prevalence of anorexia amongst teen females is 1% as of 2009.

Anorexia nervosa can likewise lead to complications like low potassium and sodium resulting in dehydration, irregular heart beat as well as cardiac arrest. Females with anorexia become anemic as well as low-blood that is dangerous. Estimation for mortality rate for anorexia is .56 percent per year. This means an alarming figure because its sums up to 5.6 percent per ten years.

On a worldwide basis, anorexia is as well increasing given that it is one of the major causes of protein malnutrition according to a study by World Health Organization. The sad fact regarding anorexia is that lack of nutrition is not caused by low income but by deliberate option to starve one’s self. This resulted to at least 70 million people around the world affected by anorexia nervosa. While it's entirely understandable that lack of nutrition is common in poor nations, it is strange that developed countries have malnutrition which is grounded on poor self-image.