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A short article in a medical journal about two German patients who mysteriously lost significant amounts of weight is spurring a diet craze. But more worrisome to doctors who work with people with eating disorders is that the cause of the mysterious weight loss -- chewing large amounts of gum containing sorbitol -- is attracting attention among eating disorder patients to prompt bouts of diarrhea. The article was published Saturday in the British Medical Journal in a section usually reserved for unusual cases. It was written by gastroenterologists at Berlin's Charite hospital about two patients with perplexing cases of diarrhea...

The number of patients needing hospital treatment for eating disorders has soared, it has emerged. The findings are sure to renew concerns about the effect "size zero" models and celebrities are having on the body image of many youngsters.

LONDON (AFP) - British film star Keira Knightley made no apologies for her slender figure at the European premiere of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" in her hometown London. ADVERTISEMENT The 21-year-old A-lister wore a revealing gold Gucci dress slashed to the waist that had some onlookers wondering if she was bowing to Hollywood pressure to be super-skinny. "Whatever people say about my weight they are all wrong," she told reporters on her way into the premiere, which was also attended by her fellow "Pirates" stars Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. "Hollywood is all about the way you...

One of the most widely used treatments for the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, the antidepressant Prozac, works no better than dummy pills in preventing recurrence in young women who have recovered from it, researchers are reporting today. The study, the most rigorous to date to test the use of medication for anorexia, should alter treatment for an illness that is often devastatingly chronic and that has a higher mortality than any other psychiatric disorder, experts said. Fewer than a third of the study's participants, who also received regular psychotherapy, remained healthy for a year or more, whether they received drug...

Last Friday, Michael Moore made a last, desperate attempt to interfere in the Canadian federal election, by writing a letter to Canadians. The Large Hairy One didn't exactly call his letter "Stephen and Me" - like he did with his carve job of former General Motors boss Roger Smith (who actually deserved all he got). But the celebrity American lefty clearly showed his distaste for the Conservatives. Although, he admitted the Liberals he was shilling for "have some explaining to do." Obviously Moore was aware of the cheap and nasty campaign to which pathetic Paul Martin had stooped in the...

Tinseltown teen queen Lindsay Lohan has finally 'fessed up to doing drugs — and becoming so bulimic that she couldn't stand the sight of her own skeletal figure. In an explosive new magazine interview, the freckled "Freaky Friday" star blames her train-wreck teen years on an emotionally destructive dad, killer stress from the cutthroat Hollywood biz, and her heartbreaking bust-up with hunky first-love actor Wilmer Valderrama. "I was sick ... I had people sit me down and say, 'You're going to die if you don't take care of yourself,' " the star admits in the latest issue of Vanity Fair,...

Sharon Osbourne is still battling bulimia after 35 years with the eating disorder, she revealed on Monday. Sharon, 52, told the Sun newspaper she gorges on pasta and ice cream before forcing herself to be sick. The mum-of-three has had her stomach stapled and spent £300,000 on cosmetic surgery but said even this had not cured her of the condition. She still has impulsive eating binges and makes herself sick once a week, although this is down from a staggering four times a day. She said: "Some people do drink and drugs but for me it's food, food, food. It's...

AN INCREASING number of middle-aged women are suffering from potentially life-threatening eating disorders as they strive to emulate the characters of Desperate Housewives, the cult American television series, according to a leading eating-disorder specialist. Since the show, starring petite Teri Hatcher and her equally slim co-stars, became a hit, eating disorder clinics across the UK have seen an increase in older women suffering from anorexia and bulimia. Clinics in Scotland report a fourfold increase in the number of women aged between 30 and 50 seeking treatment for anorexia. Experts have said a "Desperate Housewives syndrome" has caused a significant rise...

They call her "Ana." She is a role model to some, a goddess to others — the subject of drawings, prayers and even a creed. She tells them what to eat and mocks them when they don't lose weight. And yet, while she is a very real presence in the lives of many of her followers, she exists only in their minds. Ana is short for anorexia, and — to the alarm of experts — many who suffer from the potentially fatal eating disorder are part of an underground movement that promotes self-starvation and, in some cases, has an almost...

CHICAGO - They call her "Ana." She is a role model to some, a goddess to others — the subject of drawings, prayers and even a creed. She tells them what to eat and mocks them when they don't lose weight. And yet, while she is a very real presence in the lives of many of her followers, she exists only in their minds. Ana is short for anorexia, and — to the alarm of experts — many who suffer from the potentially fatal eating disorder are part of an underground movement that promotes self-starvation and, in some cases, has...

GLOBE EDITORIAL Terri Schiavo's affliction April 5, 2005 RIVETED BY the personal and political battles over Terri Schiavo's rights to life and death, the country is largely ignoring a chance to act on an underlying issue: eating disorders. Schiavo was an overweight kid who reportedly wept when she bought clothes, fearful of being teased about her size. After high school she lost weight, dropping from over 200 pounds to 150. When she was 26 she weighed 110 pounds. On Feb. 25, 1990, less than three months after her 26th birthday, she collapsed. Her heart stopped, depriving her brain of oxygen...

Weight loss set Terri on road to tragedy How a loving wife and devoted daughter ended up at the centre of a bitter family feud March 23, 2005 By most accounts, Terri Schiavo, whose plight triggered an unprecedented mobilisation of the White House and Congress, would not have approved the fuss over her plight. The debate over whether to cut off the life-sustaining feeding tube of the Florida woman, who has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years, also placed Schiavo at the centre of a bitter legal battle between her parents and her husband. That has now...

'Cheers' star Kirstie Alley has been attacked by members of the world's leading eating disorders group for joking about 'life threatening diseases' like bulimia on her new comedy show 'Fat Actress.'Officials at the National Eating Disorder Center are furious with the actress for trivializing eating disorders during the debut of her new program.In one scene, co-star Kelly Preston tells Alley's character that making herself sick after every meal is one way of losing weight- a practice commonly used by bulimics.NEDA CEO Lyn Grefe says, 'My guess is that Kirstie Alley's concept for the show was born from her frustrations with...

Imagine a 20-year-old woman who refuses to eat anything except carrots and toast because she is afraid of gaining weight, even though she is 5-foot-8 and weighs only 99 pounds. She exercises to the point of exhaustion five mornings a week because, though she is bone-thin, she thinks her thighs are too flabby. Her periods are irregular, but she has never gone more than three months without menstruating. Another woman, who is also 20 and also 5-foot-8, has an opposite eating pattern. She goes without eating all day, and starting at 6 p.m. she eats nonstop, whatever she can get...

COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 14 (UPI) -- Just being unhappy with their bodies is not enough to lead most women into eating disorders -- it takes additional factors, U.S. researchers have found. Ohio State University researchers said women are more likely to have eating disorders when their body dissatisfaction is accompanied by other issues, such as a tendency to examine their bodies obsessively and think about how they appear to others. The findings help clarify a long-running issue that has complicated the problem of identifying women at risk for eating disorders, the researchers said. Though studies have shown body dissatisfaction is...

In an era of diet fixation, chiseled underwear models and "a culture of muscularity," some researchers say eating problems among men are getting worse - even as sufferers face a lingering stigma about having a "women's disorder." Intentional starvation, cookie binges, vomiting, hospitalization. The details were typical for an eating disorder. But Jeff Everts might not seem like a typical sufferer. "We're able to hide it much better," said Everts, a 43-year-old Albuquerque, N.M., resident recovering from anorexia and bulimia. "We don't talk about it, where women would." Women are more likely to have eating disorders than men. But men...

<p>According to the federal Office on Women's Health, eating disorders are on the rise in the U.S. and world-wide, not only among the adolescent white women who are the primary victims, but also among all ethnic groups and boys. Moreover, the average age of sufferers is dropping rapidly, with problems showing up in girls as young as nine years old. The good news is that there are screening programs to help intervene early, and researchers have identified brain-chemistry and genetic factors that are leading to promising new drug therapies.</p>

Even years after a person is diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, they have twice the risk of bone fractures as their peers without the eating disorder, new study findings from Denmark show. The findings suggest that damage caused to bones by eating disorders may be permanent, according to a report in the International Journal of Eating Disorders. However, it is possible that patients in the study were still struggling with the eating disorder, which may have kept bones from regaining strength, the report indicates. Previous studies have found that people with eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia can suffer from...