I attended Science Cafe Cleveland held at the Great Lakes Brewery, home of Lake Essie, Christmas Ale and the extra-hoppy Commodore Perry tonight. While nursing a Commodore Perry, I listened to two experts on anthropological and psychological influences on teenage eating disorders by Drs. Anderson-Fye (of Case Western) and Jamor (also of Case), respectively. The former does her research in Belize, the latter is a practicing clinical psychologist. While the underlying message of their lecture was that the physiological (genetics, dopamine!!!), psychological (overachievement), and social (the media) influences on the etiology of eating disorders is multi-level and difficult to disentangle (though considerable progress is being made), I did learn about some disturbing case studies and cross cultural disparities regarding body image.

From the clinic:
-One dietitian in attendance recalled a time when she found a girl suffering from bulimia in the bathroom doing jumping jacks while being attached to an IV, which was placed in her arm to rehydrate/re-calorize her after she had previously discovered a method of relieving herself of calories that had intra-gastrically (reverse stomach-pumped) been infused.

From the field:
-Predicting the prevalence of eating disorders is fairly easy (it’s higher) in rapidly developing countries where there is frequent overexposure to American media (Cosmopolitan, America’s Next Top Model) directed towards teenagers.
–> In Fiji, the parents of a suddenly thin child are often chastised by other family members and friends, with this support group attributing a child’s transient thinness to a lack of maternal/paternal care and love, that is until Tyra Banks came to the country and suddenly many Fiji teenagers became (or strived to be) thin. And now its domesticated voodoo.
–> The prevalence of eating disorders is still reduced in Belize because this country, unlike ours, embraces voluptuousness. School girls are often seen arguing whether Coca-Cola (top-heavy) or Fanta (bottom-heavy) bodies are prettier. Regardless, curves are enamored in this culture.

–>One juxtaposing treatment (though highly implausible) for eating disorders is immigrating these patients from their native country with a high prevalence of eating disorders (surprisingly Korea) to an area with a lower prevalence (even more surprisingly, LA!!!!), because their symptoms can shockingly subside!

From the genes:
-Kids are biologically resistant towards eating leafy greens because it wasn’t safe for a three-year old “Lucy” to be grabbing and eating every green leaf, was it?

Though I was displeased with certain generalizations such as the belief that ALL gymnasts suffer from an eating disorder and/or body image distress (I was a gymnast as well as my friend attending), I thought the session was very informative….and the beer was refreshing as usual…..