Editor:
My grandson recently gave his 4-H speech on anorexia.
I was astonished at the statistics relating to this mental illness. It is the leading cause of death among young women.
Between 15 and 20 per cent of those who contract the disease will die, and less than half will fully recover.
The first signs of anorexia are extreme exercising and a great deal of attention to the diet, especially eliminating fat and sugars from the diet.
Because I found his speech so interesting, I got the book, Brave Girl Eating, by Harriet Brown, from the library.
As well as her struggle with an anorexic daughter, she gives the results of a lot of research that has been done concerning eating behavior.
One interesting study pointed out the absolute necessity for the brain to have enough fat in order to function properly.
Test rats were given access to food for half an hour a day.
The rats became more and more physically active, running on their wheels for hours.
Within 10 days most of them had died. The test was repeated but this time there was a control group that was given a high fat, low carbohydrate diet.
Only one out of 15 of these rats died, contrasting to 12 deaths out of 15 rats for those on the low-fat diet.
So recognize the danger signals. If your young girl (or possibly boy) becomes very health conscious, exercising a lot and becoming focused on eating a “healthy” diet, anorexia has to be suspected.
Get help immediately.
The sooner the demon is tackled the better are the prospects for recovery.
An interesting DVD about the subject is Dying to be Thin, also available at the library.
Margie Kaufman
McLeese Lake
