Some teens who exercise to develop their muscles may have eating disorders

Reuters Health – According to a US study, some teenagers who consider themselves as stunted and who exercise to gain weight are more likely to develop so-called muscle-related eating disorders.

This type of eating disorder usually involves eating more or differently for gaining weight or getting fat, or using supplements or anabolic steroids to achieve this effect, note the researchers in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Teens with musculoskeletal-related eating disorders can also do excessive exercise or alternate between periods of excessive protein intake and calorie cutting or restriction of carbohydrates and fats to achieve body shape. desired.

"In moderation, some behaviors such as eating more or different types of food to build muscle or getting fat may not be" messy, "said Dr. Jason Nagata, a researcher at the University of California at San Francisco , who led the study.

"However, muscle building or swelling behaviors can increase the risk of developing a eating disorder in young people," Nagata said via email.

The researchers followed a representative sample of 14,891 adolescents and young adults nationally for seven years, starting at the age of 15 years on average.

By the time these young people were between 18 and 24 years old, one in 20 women and more than one in five men had one or more symptoms of eating disorders related to the muscles.

According to the study team, these behaviors may degenerate into muscle dysmorphism, characterized by a rigid diet, obsessive overwork and extreme concern for the physical. In extreme cases, this can lead to heart failure due to a lack of calories and overwork, as well as to muscular dysmorphia, badociated with social withdrawal and depression.

"Some eating disorders can be difficult to diagnose," Nagata said. "Unlike anorexia nervosa, which can be easily identified by parents or pediatricians, a disorderly diet to increase volume can disguise as healthy habits and, as a result, it tends to go unnoticed."

The study reveals that teenagers, boys and girls, who identified themselves as African-Americans were more than twice as likely to suffer from musculature-related eating disorders as white youths.

Among all adolescent boys, exercising to gain weight was badociated with at least twice the risk of muscular-related eating disorders, while a self-image of Underweight was badociated with a 56% higher probability of this type of feeding problem.

Adolescent girls who considered themselves underweight were more than three times as likely as those who did not feel so susceptible to developing musculature-related eating disorders. Excessive teenage exercise was also linked to a more than tripled risk of this type of eating disorder.

At the end of the study period, 6.9% of boys reported taking supplements to gain weight or develop their muscles, and 2.8% reported taking anabolic steroids. Only 0.7% of young women used supplements and only 0.4% of steroids.

Steroids are illegal and dangerous, with the potential to cause heart damage, mood swings known as "roid rabies" and various other health problems. Many supplements that teens can use to increase their volume are also unregulated and may include a variety of ingredients that are not clearly labeled or approved for human consumption.

One of the limitations of the study is that researchers lacked data on the specific types of supplements or steroids used by adolescents, the authors note. They were also unable to badess how various extreme or frequent behaviors badociated with musculature-related eating disorders might be.

Still, the findings point to the fact that parents and doctors have to deal with feeding problems, even among young people who do not lose weight, said C. Alix Timko, a psychologist with the Disorders Assessment and Treatment Program. Philadelphia Children's Hospital feeding.

"Excessive exercise is badociated with a messy diet: being leaner (losing weight) and gaining weight (increasing muscle volume)," said Timko, who was not involved in the study, by email . "Going to the gym or exercising several times a week (or even every day) can be problematic."

SOURCE: bit.ly/2Lc3Rdn International Review of Eating Disorders, online June 20, 2019.