Eating Disorders: They Afflict More Than Teens

"... rates of anorexia and bulimia spike in middle age, when many women again face emotional turmoil. Women over 30 now make up a full third of residential patients at the Renfrew Center, a Philadelphia treatment facility specializing in eating disorders. Divorce, grief, the empty nest — all can trigger illness if the individual possesses a genetic predisposition."

- Aimee Liu, author of the forthcoming "Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders," in "Anorexia's Red Herring" in the Los Angeles Times.

Liu writes in the Los Angeles Times piece that eating disorders are caused by "genetic predisposition, temperament, family dynamics and personal trauma."

Recently, investigators have found genetic links between such disorders, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Traits such as "perfectionism, inflexibility and cautiousness" are associated with a 7x increase in risk for anorexia.

This predisposition can then be triggered by emotional turmoil. Although much research we've seen here at LifeTwo argues that for most, middle age is a period of calm and control, someone predisposed toward an eating disorder and then buffeted by divorce, loss of a family member, or other trauma could find themselves at the mercy of bulimia or anorexia.

It sounds like Liu's book will be a much-needed look at eating disorders beyond models and teenagers, with a focus on effective means of recovery.