The term “eating disorders” is a collective term of several psychological dysfunctions which deal with a huge focus on eating, body images and looks. All of these illnesses are pretty similar, and they usually start as a diet which comes out of control. We usually divide eating disorders into three branches, anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder which are the most widespread types. People who have some kind of eating disorders, often have one or several other problems as well. These might be problems with family or friends or at school. To manage to deal with these problems, eating disorders become the solution for many. There are usually girls who suffer from eating disorders, and according to LA Times, there are 7 million girls and women and 1 million boys and men around the world who struggle with eating disorders.
“When millions of Indians don’t get enough food, people who develop eating disorders don’t get much sympathy. To them people who are starving themselves to death are stupid.” Dr Chugh
“It would be simplistic to say there is a relationship between seeing a model on the catwalk and eating disorders.” Dr. Jan Goldin
According to a BBC article, about 165 000 people in UK are suffering from eating disorders, and about 10% of them die. But according to the website www.disordered-eating.co.uk, there are about 1.1 million Britons who struggles whit the same. Why these numbers are different are unknown, but the BBC article was written in year 2000, and the numbers might have rise the last seven years. As in the rest of the world, there are more women than men who are suffering from eating disorders and in the UK only one out of ten sufferers are men. In recent years, the numbers of people with eating disorders have increased a lot for both genders, but mostly among men. Eating disorders among young people have also been more common, and at Great Ormond Street Hospital, children down to the age of seven years have got treatment (BBC).
In India eating disorders is a small problem, because most people have to struggle to get enough food. Some investigations even show that about 60 % of all Indian women are undernourished. Because of this the women that have curves and a round figure have became a symbol of beauty and healthiness. Another important reason of why eating disorders are pretty uncommon is because few Indians have heard about it and know what it is. Even if the number of people having eating disorders is low, there have been some cases especially of anorexia the last years, and the numbers seem to be increasing. One of the reasons might be affection from the West who has came trough TV and movies.
This information and these numbers show that eating disorders are much more common in UK, and we think the reasons might be that the British people are living in a country which has a better economy and higher wealth than India. In countries with a good economy and high wealth there are used a lot of money in commercials and people are getting affected by the way models and other celebrities are looking. Most people in the UK are also affected by TV, internet and magazines, even if they don’t think and know that they are getting affected. This agrees with our assertion.
