Anorexia Taking Over Brit Boys As Young As Six

A new study has made some shocking revelations about UK Boys as young as six who are getting treated in hospital for anorexia, with some being so dangerously thin that they have to be given life-saving medication.

According to figures from NHS trusts in England and Wales, 167 boys aged under 18 were given emergency treatment at hospitals or specialist units between 2007 and 2011, the Sun reported.

Anorexia Nervosa - Types Complications Causes Treatment FAQs
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder most commonly found among teenage girls. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a very low body weight, generally defined as 15% below the Body Mass Index.

It is a shocking 65 per cent increase from the previous five years, when 101 boys were admitted with anorexia.

Out of all those boys treated in hospital in the last decade, 15 were primary school pupils, including one aged just six, two aged eight and two nine-year-olds.

The number of girls aged 17 or younger admitted with anorexia nervosa has also increased from 1,192 between 2002 and 2006 to 1,662 between 2007 and 2011 a rise of 39 per cent.

Anorexia Cause of Concern in Scotland
Scotland is providing all the care and support for those suffering from anorexia.

Since 2002, 125 girls of primary school age have been treated in hospital with anorexia.

That statistics includes 7 nine-year-olds, 46 ten-year-olds and 57 11-year-olds.

Anorexia Linked To Genes
Anorexia nervosa is said to have a genetic association.

19-year-old Ollie Roche of Plymouth, Devon, nearly died in 2009 when he starved himself so much his weight plunged to just 41/2 stone.

Then 16, Roche was rushed to hospital after refusing to drink even water because he thought it would make him "obese".

Manorexia Rates Increased Three-Fold Over Last Decade
The pressure to look slim has meant that an increasing number of males in UK have been found to be suffering from life threatening eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.

"The doctor said that unless I started eating I only had two days left to live.

"My body had actually started to eat itself on the inside to keep me going and my heart was shrinking," he said.

Ollie, who is now 5ft 11in tall, spent two months in hospital and but has put on weight since then.

He claimed that he didn't believe images of ultra-skinny models were responsible for the increasing number of boys suffering from the condition.

"It's all to do with the fact a person feels insecure," he said.

"Boys nowadays are experiencing as much pressure as girls when it comes to body image. There certainly needs to be more emphasis put on education in schools to build children's self-esteem," a spokeswoman for the eating disorder charity Beat said.

Source-ANI