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Bulimia, anorexia rising among males
Officials cite drastic increase over 5 years
By Mariana Minaya
The Diamondback
Sep 21, 2004
The number of male students seeking treatment for eating disorders at
the University Health Center has drastically increased over the past five
years, mirroring national trends of increasingly image-conscious men.
Three years ago Health Center dietitian Jane Jakubczak said she did not see any
men in her clinic. Now, she sees up to one male student a week that has some form
of distorted eating pattern, an obsession with body image or excessive exercise routines.
"When they come in to see me they don't think they have a problem," she said.
"They come in to ask me what to eat that will get them six-pack abs. I would never
have heard that five years ago."
Julie Parsons, eating disorders treatment coordinator at the health center, reported
an increase in the number of men she is treating for anorexia and bulimia. A 2003
campus survey reported that two in five men feel upset or depressed about their
appearance. That same survey reported that one in two men diet or consume nutritional
supplements to improve their physique.
Health officials said they could not release specific numbers regarding the increase.
The trend is reflective of the nation. One million men have eating disorders, and the
numbers have increased by 30 percent since 1972, according to a Health Center informational
pamphlet.
Jakubczak said the increase of eating disorders among men is caused by unrealistic
images of the male body in the media.
"Even looking at GI Joe toys in [the] 1970s, their physique was very normal," she said.
"In the 2000s, the physique looks enormously buff. Especially college-age men feel they
need to look like that."
A major difference she has noticed about eating disorders between the sexes is females
are more willing to admit they have an issue with eating.
"[Among women] it's talked enough about that the shame decreased. That hasn't reached
the guys yet," she said.
Athletes can be very susceptible to falling into unhealthy eating or exercising regiments.
In 1994 Newsweek reported a study conducted by Cornell University revealed that 40 percent
of the football players they surveyed displayed signs of an eating disorder.
Jakubczak has also noted an increase in dangerous eating habits among women and minorities.
The ideal image of a stick-thin girl has pervasive effects on women of all ethnicities, she said.
The increase can also be attributed to the fact that many of the strong family dynamics
prevalent in minority families are breaking down, she said.
"They say a sit-down dinner decreases risk of eating disorders," Jakubczak said. "That's
missing now." Last year the Health Center hosted a men's health week to educate male students
about the differences between normal body image qualms and obsession.
The university's Center for Health and Well-being will host a program to discuss dieting,
body shape and size Oct. 12, but said it will not be advertised as an eating disorder program
because many men would feel too embarrassed to come.
"It is still very taboo," Parsons said.
The health center offers individual, confidential treatment for students, which includes a
medical evaluation, physiological consultation, group treatment and nutritional advice. Signs
of an eating disorder are often elusive and hard to treat, but persons experiencing an obsession
with thinness, a compulsion to exercise, bingeing and those who panic at the thought of gaining
wait should consult a professional.
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