Eating Disorders: Effects Of Eating Disorders

Monday 22 October 2012

Effects Of Eating Disorders

Aug. 5, 2011 -- Women with anorexia or bulimia or a history of eating disorders have more fertility problems, unplanned pregnancies, and negative feelings about having a child than women with no such history, a new study from the United Kingdom finds.Researchers from King’s College London and the University College London examined data from surveys of more than 11,000 pregnant women, including about 500 with a history of anorexia nervosa, bulimia, or both conditions.Although women with a history of eating disorders were no more likely than other women to take longer than a year to conceive, a higher percentage did take more than six months to achieve a pregnancy (39% vs. 25%).Women who reported having an eating disorder in the present or past were more than twice as likely to have received treatment to help them conceive (6% vs. 2.7%).