NUTRITION
IN TOP ATHLETES
EATING DISORDERS IN ATHLETES A
META-ANALYSIS
1Jaliu
Bogdana,
2Jaliu Bogdan,
3Danielle
Davis,
1Argosy
University-Dallas, TX USA,
2J. P. S.
Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center-Fort Worth, TX USA,
3Argosy
University-Dallas, TX USA
INTRODUCTION.
Eating disorders
are potentially life-threatening ailments, characterized by severely
disturbed patterns of eating behavior. According to DSM-IV, eating
disorders include: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and The Eating
Disorder Not Otherwise Specified category.
Objective: The
purpose of this project is to examine eating disorders in athletes,
using meta-analysis.
METHOD. Data from 21
studies were used
to examine the overall relationship between eating disorders, athletes,
gender, age groups, and specific sports and performance.
RESULTS.
Statistics show that in the USA, 63 % of female athletes develop
symptoms of eating disorders. The prevalence of eating disorder in the
USA, in the general population, is approx 1.84%. Certain sports seem to
induce an increased risk of eating problems (e.g. swimming, aesthetic,
and weight dependent sports). Recent studies report few cases involving
men, that are implicated in wrestling, track and field, gymnastics.
CONCLUSION.
Eating disorders are seen much more frequently in athletes than in
non-athletes. Most frequently eating disorders are developed during
adolescence, but some reports indicate their onset can occur during
childhood or later in adulthood. Eating disorders are not due to a
failure of will. They are real medical illnesses characterized by
maladaptive patterns of eating. Both, athletes and non-athletes seem to
have the same psychological profiles of eating disorders. Although
socio-cultural explanations are relevant, anorexia nervosa and bulimia
are perhaps better regarded as complex heterogeneous disorders with
multifactorial etiology, involving the interaction of genes,
environment, family background, particular social factors and certain
psychological features, such as: desire to win approval of others,
getting attention behavior, perfectionism, self-criticism.
KEY
WORDS:
athletes, eating disorder, meta-analysis. 
