Anorexia Nervosa (Symptoms)

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to eat an adequate amount of food. Anorexics often have a distorted body image and intense fear of gaining weight.

An estimated 0.5 percent to 3.7 percent of females and 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent of males suffer from anorexia nervosa in their lifetime. Symptoms of anorexia nervosa include:

Refusal to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for one's age and height
Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though one is underweight
Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of low body weight
Infrequent or absent menstrual periods (in females who have reached puberty)

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