When she hit 120 pounds, Dunlap's mother worried that April was losing too much weight. The family's doctor agreed. Four months after Dunlap's diet began, she found herself in a treatment program for anorexia nervosa. After only 10 days, she had gained enough weight to be discharged from the hospital.

"If it wasn't for my mother, it would have taken a lot longer for me to realize I had a problem," said Dunlap, now 28 and living in Charleston, W.Va.

Dunlap's whirlwind experience with her eating disorder is becoming increasingly common today: A new breed of patient is getting treatment well before the disease drags them into a downward spiral toward starvation, sustained heart damage, weak bones, kidney damage, long hospitalizations and numerous relapses.

Health experts are seeing a glimmer of hope that the devastation wrought by eating disorders may be easing nearly 30 years after the illnesses first sprang into the public consciousness with the death of singer Karen Carpenter from anorexia-induced heart failure. Among the encouraging signs: More patients are getting medical treatment based on sound science; they're getting it earlier in the course of the disease; and they're recovering faster, often without the need for hospitalization or residential care.

One eye-opening statistic appears to speak to the trend: A recent government analysis found that hospitalizations for people with the primary diagnosis of an eating disorder plunged 23% between 2007-08 and 2008-09. It was the first such decline since the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality began tracking such hospitalizations in 1999.

"Any little movement is significant, and this is a pretty big one," said William Encinosa, a senior economist at the agency who worked on the report, which was published last year.

Eating disorders, which primarily affect teenage girls, are loosely categorized as mental illnesses centered on obsessive thoughts, emotions and behaviors regarding food. Anorexia involves self-starvation leading to excessive weight loss that damages the heart, bones, nervous system and organs. An estimated 1 in 200 Americans has the disease, and the death rate is 4%.

Bulimia is characterized by bingeing followed by self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives or excessive exercise to purge food and prevent weight gain. It affects 2% to 3% of Americans and is not thought to be as deadly as anorexia, though a 2009 study in the American Journal of Psychiatry found it was lethal in nearly 4% of cases, mostly due to suicide or electrolyte imbalance caused by dehydration.

Another type of eating disorder, binge eating, rarely leads to hospitalization or death.

The stigma surrounding anorexia and bulimia have kept many patients isolated. But for a variety of reasons, eating disorders are coming out of the shadows.

Surveys conducted by the National Eating Disorders Assn. show that Americans are more familiar with anorexia and bulimia now than they were 10 years ago. That awareness has been accompanied by a weakening of the stigma associated with eating disorders that might, in the past, have prevented some people from seeking help quickly, said William Walters, who manages the telephone hot line for the New York-based organization.

It appears that it is incredibly difficult for men and boys to admit they have an eating disorder issue as they think it is seen as predominately female affliction and definitely not "manly".

With teenage boys, it's even harder to detect particularly with Bulimia as their strange behaviour and possible mood swings can often be mistaken for normal teenage behaviour. 

Figures from the NHS Information Centre showed there were 228 hospital admissions last year for men and boys suffering from anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.

Incredibly these statistics we formed of 78 admissions for 14's and under and 39 cases of those aged between 15 and 18.

These statistics have been on the rise in the last few years across all age groups as follows: 160 in 2007/8, 182 in 2008/9, 196 in 2009/10.

Charities have pointed out that they believe that these figures will be substantially more in reality as these figures only show people who have become so severely ill that they required hospital treatment.  There will be many many more out there who are un diagnosed and suffering in silence.

There are an estimated 1.6 million Brits suffering from an eating disorder, a fifth of whom are thought to be male.

Sufferers often don't realise that their behaviour has become habitual and detrimental to their lives.

Sufferers will weigh themselves several times a day.  They can become obsessed with exercising hours every day in order to be able eat more.

Anorexics are desperate to keep their weight impossibly low and don't see what others see when they look in the mirror.  Bulimic's eat huge amounts of food and then feel tremendous guilt for doing so and therefore the need to get rid of the food is overwhelming.  They will then make themselves sick or take dangerous amounts of laxatives.

Mary George, spokesman for the Beat eating disorder charity, said: ‘We can’t say for sure that there are more men suffering from eating disorders now but there is certainly more awareness which means more are coming forward for treatment. There is more pressure on men from magazines with celebrities and male models to have that ideal body image.

‘But there’s still a lot of stigma and misunderstanding because the majority of eating disorders occur in females.

‘That’s why men are ashamed to come forward and admit they have a problem.’

Beat said former deputy prime minister John Prescott helped male sufferers when he spoke candidly in 2008 of his long battle with bulimia.

Bullying is often a trigger for an eating disorder in both men and women.

Support for eating disorders within the NHS is almost impossible and depends on where you live.  Given that early diagnosis is crucial as is fast access to treatment, the NHS really need to get their act together in order to help and treat people effectively. 

James.

As with many of these type of studies, scientists from the University of Manchester used sheep for their research but they think that many of their findings may be the case in humans too.  The study also looked at why twins can be more susceptible to developing Type 2 Diabetes in later life.

The team investigated twin pregnancies in sheep, as well as the pregnancies of ewes where there was less food available to them around the time the lamb was conceived.

The scientists then looked at glucose levels in the brains of the unborn lambs to see if the DNA structure involved in food intake was altered.

Professor of endocrine sciences Anne White said: "We found that unborn twin lambs had changes in the structure of DNA in the region of the brain that regulates food intake and glucose that resulted in an increased chance of diabetes in adulthood."

"Our findings provide a reason why twins are more likely to get diabetes but we have also shown that mothers who don't have enough food around the time of conception may have a child who grows up with an increased risk of obesity."

The research was also  carried out in New Zealand and Canada.

This study is important as it could provide a plan of action for women's eating habits when they are planning to start a family and therefore reduce the risk of obesity or diabetes in their future children's lives.

Professor White added: "This is not an inherited change in the genes but a change in the structure of the DNA that affects the genes, and therefore much more unusual.

"What is significant is that the changes we have found are in genes that control food intake and glucose levels and alterations in these genes may lead to obesity and diabetes.

"Our study is important because it shows that factors in the brain can be altered by non-hereditary mechanisms and this results in changes in the body, which could make people obese.

"The findings may provide a new understanding of why twins can develop diabetes and also suggests that dieting around the time a baby is conceived may increase the chance of the child becoming obese later in life."

Also this week the NHS has revealed that they are giving obese pregnant women diabetes drugs to prevent their babies from being born obese.  Obesity is soaring amongst pregnant women.  This is the first trial of it's kind to try and treat obesity and related disease such as diabetes from inside the womb.

The drug being given to obese pregnant women is Metformin,  This drug has been used widely amongst diabetics for many years and with good results.  The drug works by lowering the levels of insulin in the blood.  It is believed that giving it to pregnant women will stop the formation of fat around the baby's liver and other organs. 

The trial has been funded by the Medical Research Council.  They have given Metformin to 400 obese pregnant women from Liverpool, Coventry, Sheffield and Edinburgh .  This is expected to be extended across other parts of the UK in the next 5 years.

Professor Jane Norman, a researcher from Edinburgh University said, “One of the challenges is that many women feel perfectly healthy but there is very good evidence that women who are obese have an increased risk of pregnancy problems and their babies are at risk, and we'd like to reduce that risk.”

James.

The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Granada.  Incredibly they found a 51% increase in depression amongst those who eat fast food compared to those who eat little or none.

Also reported in the Public Health Nutrition Journal was that the more fast food is consumed, the greater the risk is to develop depression.

Interestingly, the study found that if you are single, less active and are not great with good eating habits, including eating less fruit and vegetables, nuts, fish and olive oil you are far more likely to indulge in fast food and commercially baked goods.  Within this group it was also found that they are more likely to smoke and work more than 45 hours per week.

Speaking of commercial baked goods, Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, lead author of the study, said: "Even eating small quantities is linked to a significantly higher chance of developing depression."

The study consisted of 8,964 participants that had neither been diagnosed with depression or taken antidepressants. They were evaluated for an average of six months after which 493 were diagnosed with depression or started to take antidepressants.

The study found 657 newly diagnosed cases of depression out of the 12,059 people who agreed to take part in the study over a period of 6 months.  A 42% increase in the risk associated with fast food was found, which is marginally lower than that found in other studies though the results with this study were close to the findings in other studies of this nature.

Sánchez-Villegas said that "although more studies are necessary, the intake of this type of food should be controlled because of its implications on both health (obesity, cardiovascular diseases) and mental well-being."

Depression affects 121 million people worldwide.  Not much is known in the role that diet plays in the sometimes severe and debilitating illness of depression. Other studies have shown that some nutrients are essential in prevention of all sorts of diseases.  These include group B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids and olive oil.  The Mediterranean diet is well documented as being healthy and the insentiences of heart disease, diabetes and depression are far lower than in the UK.

The results of this study are worrying but at the same time logical.  We are all living lives of convenience and our bodies clearly don't like it.  

If you are suffering from depression at any level, perhaps the firs thing that should be addressed is healthy eating.  Changing our habits can be a challenge but one that is really worth doing it it gets you somewhat out the pit of depression.  Start slowly.  You really can see dramatic changes within a few weeks if you give it a shot!

However, a word of caution!  This research has been undertaken in mice, not humans so don't go for the chocolate and biscuits just yet!

Scientists have looked at the role of a mutated gene called BDNF "brain-derived neurotrophic factor” and the effect it has on feeling full.  In normal circumstances, our hormones tell our brain when we are full.  However, when mice carried a mutant version of the BDNF hormone, the signal to tell the brain when they were full was blocked and they became over eaters and therefore gained weight.  In fact male mice became twice as heavy as the mice without the "greedy" gene and female mice were 2.7 times as fat.

This research is indeed interesting and will hopefully lead to a greater understanding of obesity in humans but more work needs to be done.  We don't know how many humans may carry a mutated gene such as this and it can't be the case that all obese people are that way due to genetics.  People are overweight and obese for a vast array of reasons.  Even if this study is replicated in humans, it will be many years before a suitable treatment is developed.

The study was carried out by researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center and the University of Colorado in the US and was funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the American Diabetes Association.

The study was published in the scientific journal Nature Medicine.

The researchers took two groups of mice, one with a mutated version of the BDNF gene and the other with a normal version of the gene. They then looked at the weight of the mice, how much food they consumed and then how much weight they gained.  The researchers also looked at the role of Leptin in the mice which is a hormone which suppresses the appetite.  Leptin was injected into the mice 3 times a day and then their eating habits were monitored. 

The results that the researchers found were quite remarkable.  When the mice were 5-6 weeks old, and had the mutated gene, they were found to be severely obese compared to the mice without the mutate gene.

By 16 weeks of age, female mice with the mutation were 171% heavier than their non-BDNF mutation counterparts, and male mice were 90% heavier. Importantly, the researchers reported that this weight gain was not due to inactivity but directly due to over eating.  They were eating 69-80% more than the mice without the "greedy" gene.

It was also discovered that the role of Leptin became redundant in the mice with the mutated gene and appeared to switch itself off and therefore was unable to make the mice feel full as it's supposed to do.  The mice injected with Leptin who did not carry the mutant gene ate 26% less food than their counterparts after being injected. 

So, in conclusion, the BDNF "brain-derived neurotrophic factor” caused obesity and also stopped the key role of Leptin in suppressing appetite.

Researchers were keen to stress that this work is in the very early stages and more work needs to be done to understand the way in which the brain effects eating habits and energy balance.  However, this research may give a different avenue to look at in the pursuit of a treatment for obesity.  This work is very informative at a time when obesity rates are soaring in the UK and so any insight into why this is happening is welcome.  Obesity is a complex issue with many factors such as an abundance of food, convenience foods, leisure, sedentary lifestyles and socio economic factors all play a role.  Given the vast array of illnesses associated with obesity such as heart disease and diabetes, a better scientific understanding of why obesity occurs and a cure can't come fast enough!

James. 

Incredibly, these pills make up a $2.4 billion industry in the United States.

Even more incredible is that Researchers from the Oregon State University (OSU) looked at hundreds of weight loss supplements on the market in the US and found no evidence in any of them that they help to shift unwanted lbs!  In fact many of them were found to have nasty side effects.

“For most people, unless you alter your diet and get daily exercise, no supplement is going to have a big impact,” said Melinda Manore, lead researcher and professor of nutrition and exercise sciences at OSU.

Generally speaking, these pills fall into 4 categories:  pills such as chitosan that block the fat  or carbs being absorbed into the body, stimulants that increase metabolism such as caffeine or ephedra, conjugated linoleic acid which are said to change the body's fat composition and soluble fibres which act as appetite suppressants.  These were the categories that the OSU team looked at. 

Compared to the placebo group, the people taking the weight loss pills only showed a 2lb weight loss in only a few of the products tested.

“What people want is to lose weight, and maintain or increase lean tissue mass,” said Manore.

“There is no evidence that any one supplement does this. And some have side effects ranging from the unpleasant, such a bloating and gas, to very serious issues such as strokes and heart problems.”

It's such a shame that people are not only wasting their money, but also putting their hope on false claims by this multi billion dollar industry.  We would all like a quick fix but it really doesn't exist.  However, if you exercise and eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and put some hard work into it, the weight will come off and you will have done it yourself which will be far more satisfying than taking a pill.  The only side effects of doing it this way will be an increase in your health and well being!

James. 

A recent study shows that the 6-10% of Americans who use these drugs to help them sleep are more likely to develop cancer and are far more likely to die prematurely than those who do not. 

The other major issue that was highlighted was the fact that the increased risk came at very low doses of these drugs.  Deaths were found to be more than 3 1/2 times greater for those taking as few as 1 - 18 sleeping pills a year than people not taking any.

The study showed that the risk of death was 5 times greater in those who were taking more than 132 sleeping pills per year again in comparison to those who do not take any.

More studies need to be conducted because at present we do not know if it is the drugs themselves causing the greater risk of death and cancer or if it's a case that people who are more likely to develop these things anyway are more likely to seek help to deal with their sleep issues and therefore end up taking these drugs.

The study, released in the BMJ Open compared patients who had never taken sleeping pills to patients who were heavy users  and found that they were 34% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer during the study period.  Quite a worrying number.

The study followed 10,531 patients who were taking prescriptions for hypnotic sedatives for at least 3 months and for as long as 4 years.  For comparison researchers matched each patients prescribed with a sleeping pill with at least two patients of similar age, gender and health and had no history of having ever taken a sleeping pill.

Zolpidem was the most commonly used sleeping pill used by the participants, followed by Restoril.  Others included Lunesta, Sonata, benzodiazepines and sedative anti-histamines.  These were used by 4117 of the study participants.

Millions of American are routinely prescribed these medications.  The authors of the study estimate that between 320,000 - 507,000 deaths in 2010 alone in the US may have been attributed to the use of sleeping pills.  This is scary stuff considering that many of the people who take these drugs say that they have little effect on them obtaining a good night's sleep!  Sleeping pills are the 20th most used class of prescription drugs.

Sanofi-Aventis the makers of "Ambien" said the study's conclusions were "highly questionable".  The authors agreed that the cause and effect had not been established but more and more studies are coming out with similar conclusions that these drugs are dangerous and are of little benefit.

The authors say that there could be many contributing factors as to why these sleeping pills cause problems.  Aside from overdose they often cause problems such as a hangover type feeling the next day which may cause increased susceptibilty to accidents and injuries.  Peptic ulcers are more common in those who take sleeping pills which could drive up the rate of cancer and infections.  Other studies have linked sleeping pills with depression, sleep apnoea, which in turn may lead to a raised risk of suicide, diabetes and heart disease. As for how they could cause cancer, no-one really knows - yet.

In summary it's clear that we should not be taking these medications except in extreme circumstances.  Better sleep hygiene and counselling really would be much better in the long run.  It may also get to the root cause of ones sleeplessness.

We are told often that we all need a good 8 hours sleep a night but older people tend to survive perfectly well on less and yet still insist on taking these pills.  We are all individuals and different and should be treated thus.  The "one size fits all" mentality of the health service is not helpful when it comes to complex issues such as sleep or ones mental health state.  Popping a pill simply doesn't treat the issue itself. 

James.

Diabetes is rising at an alarming rate both here and in the US and is mainly put down to diet and lack of exercise.  High Intensity Training could be the answer many have been looking for.  One of the major benefits of "HIT" is the effect it has on blood sugar and an individuals sensitivity to insulin.  Insulin removes sugar from the blood and controls fat and when it becomes ineffective, you become diabetic.  Diabetes is a serious disease and affects 2.9 million people in the UK with an estimated 850,000 who have the disease but don't know it.  Diabetes can cause blindness, kidney damage, damage to the nerve endings particularly in the feet which can lead to amputation, depression, gum disease as well as other serious symptoms.

So, if we could do 3 minutes exercise per week that may reduce our risk of developing diabetes then bring it on!

A recent international study asked 1000 people to do aerobic exercise for four hours per week for 20 weeks.  Their aerobic fitness was measured both before and after and the results were quite remarkable.

Although 15% of people made huge progress (so called super-responders) 20% showed no improvement at all (so called non-responders).  What this shows in spectacular style is that we are all different!  Of course we've all known this since the dawn of time but try telling that to the "one diet and exercise regime fits all" mentality when it comes to the NHS when they tell us to simply eat less and exercise  more!  A genetic test has been developed to ascertain whether an individual will respond well to exercise or not.  That will definitely help all those who are working their socks off in the gym and getting no-where fast!  For some of us, slogging our guts out an hour a day every day just isn't worth it.  However, everyone would benefit from some High Intensity Training (HIT).

So, how does it work and what do we need to do?  It's really simple.  Warm up nicely on an exercise bike then go flat out for 20 seconds.  Recover for a minute or so and go for it again.  Do this 3 times over and that's it!  Do this 3 times a week.   What happens is that when we do HIT we are using 80% of our muscle cells whereas when we do moderate walking or jogging we only use 20-40%.  We need to exercise to break down the body's stores of glucose, which is deposited  in your muscles and is a substance called glycogen.  If we can break down the glycogen stores you create more room for more glucose to be taken from the blood which is good news.

In these recent studies people's insulin sensitivity was improved by as much as 25% simply by doing HIT 3 times a week over a 4 week period.  By doing this you are decreasing your risk of diabetes but other benefits include a decrease in body fat, firmer skin and fewer wrinkles, improved athletic speed and performance, improved muscle tone, an increase in energy and you will reach your fitness goals faster.  Sounds good!

Previous research in young men and women has shown that by doing HIT 3 times per week for 6 weeks can produce similar physiological changes in leg muscles as seen in those who preform 5 hour long sessions of cycling in the gym.

This research is so encouraging for those of us who struggle with exercise and are regularly beating ourselves up about it!  HIT is cheap, convenient, efficient and highly effective!  Give it a go and I would love to hear any stories you might have about your own experience with this type of exercise!

James.