(RxWiki News) Imagine a child endangering their health to look good. It’s happening and its called Bulimia – self-induced vomiting after eating. Bulimia is now being seen in children as young as ten.
Some children have taken it upon themselves to fix their weight problems with unconventional methods. Researchers found that children are making themselves vomit in order to lose weight.
"If Bulimia is affecting your child; schedule an appointment with a therapist."
Ying Mei Liou, director of clinical practice of the School of Nursing at National Yang-Ming University, Taiwan, is the lead author of a study, in which about 16,000 children from 120 different schools participated.
Liou and her team found that 13 percent of the boys and girls make themselves throw up to lose weight. The researchers found that 16 percent of those children were between 10 to 12 years old. The percentage decreases as children get older - 15 percent children age 13-15 and 8 percent for children age 16-18.
They also found that children who were using self-vomiting as a weight loss method were more likely to be underweight boys than girls.
Children were more likely to use throwing up to lose weight if they had sedentary (inactive) lifestyles. These youngsters tended to spend more than two hours on the computer per day, sleep less than eight hours a night, eat fried food or night-time snacks and skip breakfast every morning.
It’s important that children are educated about healthy living, including losing, maintaining and even gaining weight. Encourage your kids to get off computers, get enough sleep and eat healthier.
The research was published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.
