The instructions in the file and please choose one of these two articles that i downloaded and write about it

20180411031633extra_credit_paper_review 20180411032553alcohol_advertising_does_not_promote_underage_drinking 20180411032657athletes_are_more_vulnerable_to_anorexia_than_non_athletes

Critical Review

— optional for extra credit 75 pts

You can prepare one critical review of published literature during the semester. The purpose of the review is to give you experience in reading, evaluating, and incorporating technical literature into your knowledge base. Although you must prepare a summary of the material read, emphasis must be placed on your evaluation of the literature:

1.
How the information aligns with what you already know.

2.
How the new information impacts your outlook.

3.
The significance of the information to your knowledge base.

Also include in the review why you selected the particular article. Identify the article reviewed using a consistent citation format.

If you choose not to use an article that Dr. J has sent you; then the article must have been written between 2010-present and approved by Dr. J.

Your review should be 2-3 pages of 12-pt double-spaced text with 1″-margins. You must submit a hardcopy of the review by the due date indicated below. As this assignment gives you an opportunity to generate some extra credit, late submissions will not be accepted.

Due Date: Thursday, April 19, 2018 at the beginning of class. Late submissions or email attachments will not be accepted. You may turn your review in anytime before the due date.

Also, to help those students who do not know what is expected in the paper I have attached a copy of the paper that was turned in along with the grade. If anyone turns in the same Critical Review as the attached sample, they will get ZERO points for the assignment. Plagiarism under any circumstances is not permitted. If you are still having troubles come by my office or Dr. J’s office and we will help you.

HN&F 126

Professor Jaczynski

10/1/14

Critical Review

Chaudry, M.M. (2011) Islamic food laws: philosophical basis and practical implications.

Food Technol. 46:92-93.

I chose this article because religion has always interested me in how it governs so much of what people do in their lives, like eating. Given recent developments the article on Islamic food laws seemed like a good place to start my first critical review. Before I read this article I new nothing on Islamic food laws. The only religious food laws I have ever looked at previously was the Jewish food laws. I figured they would share some similarities since they both developed in the same region.

The article starts of by saying that Islam is a religion that governs all aspects of their lives. The basic food laws are found in the Quran (the holy book of Islam) and the Hadith (the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad). With 1.3 billion people practicing Islam and that population growing the food industry needs to become aware of the needs of these people.

In the article, Chaudry gives eleven generally accepted principles regarding what is permitted and prohibited in Islam.

1. The basic principle is that all things created by God are permitted, with a few exceptions that are specifically prohibited.

2. To make lawful and unlawful is the right of God alone.

3. Prohibiting what is permitted and permitting what is prohibited is similar to ascribing partners to God.

4. The basic reasons for the prohibition of things are due to impurity and harmfulness.

5. What is permitted is sufficient, and what is prohibited is then superfluous.

6. Whatever is conductive to the “prohibited” is in itself prohibited.

7. Falsely representing unlawful as lawful is prohibited.

8. Good intentions do not make the unlawful acceptable.

9. Doubtful things should be avoided.

10. Unlawful things are prohibited to everyone alike.

11. Necessity dictates exceptions.

The article then quotes some passages from the Quran that tells Muslims what not to eat. The following list is what is prohibited:

· Carrion or dead animals.

· Flowing or congealed blood.

· Swine, including all by-products.

· Animals slaughtered without pronouncing the name of Allah on them.

· Animals killed in a manner which prevents their blood from being drained from their bodies.

· Animals slaughtered while pronouncing a name other than Allah.

· Intoxicants of all types, including alcohol and drugs.

· Carnivorous animals with fangs.

· Birds of prey.

· Land animals without ears.

The reasons behind some of these are carrion and dead animals are unfit for human consumption because the decaying process leads to formation of chemicals which are harmful to humans. Blood that is drained from the body contains harmful bacteria, products of metabolism, and toxins. Swine serves as a factor for pathogenic worms to enter the body. Fatty acid composition of pork fat has been mentioned as incompatible with the human fat and biochemical systems. Intoxicants are considered harmful for the nervous system, affecting the senses and human judgment, leading to social and family problems and in many cases death. But, the most important reason is because the prohibitions are a Divine order of God.

Prohibited and Lawful foods can be grouped into the following categories: The Animal Kingdom, The Plant Kingdom, The Mineral Kingdom, and Biotechnologically Produced Products. The animal kingdom is mentioned above. In the plant kingdom all plants and their products are permitted except when fermented to make alcohol or when containing intoxicants or ingredients otherwise harmful to humans. In the mineral kingdom safe substances derived from mineral or petroleum sources are permitted except those that pose a health hazard. Biotechnologically produced products have started to raise questions on the permissibility of foods produced using these techniques. Such issues are being reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the Muslim scholars.

The article was very informative. One of the prohibited things in there I thought might be in there was pork. Most of the rules for permissibility seem sound even in to a nonreligious person. I had no idea that slaughtered animals had to have the name of Allah on them in order to be lawful. This article makes me wonder how Muslims in the United States eat. Most things in the United States are done in a nonreligious manner. This article leaves me wondering is their a real profitable market in the United States for being considerate to the food needs of different religions.

The grade on this paper was 85%. I summarized the article I did not evaluate, hence the low grade.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center

Alcohol Advertising Does Not Promote Underage
Drinking

Morris E. Chafetz

About the author: Morris E. Chafetz is the founding director of the National Institute on
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, president of the Health Education Foundation in

Washington D.C., and the author of The Tyranny of Experts: Blowing the Whistle on the
Cult of Expertise.

Source Database: Current Controversies: Alcoholism

Table of Contents: Further Readings | Source Citation

As a psychiatrist, scientist, and former architect of the national effort to prevent alcohol
problems, it was my job to seek out the best science, both biomedical and behavioral.
Today, a heated debate swirls around the issue of restricting alcohol advertising on TV.
Assorted opponents who argue that advertising contributes to alcohol-related problems–
especially among young people–are way off base.

Where Is the Evidence?
When I consider the pros and cons of alcohol advertising and its alleged effect on
problem drinking, I find myself asking the crucial question: Where in the name of science
is there proof that alcohol advertising is bad for society? Shouldn’t there be some science
to say it’s so?

In 1996, I was asked to write a review for the New England Journal of Medicine on how
advertising affects alcohol use. I did not find any studies that credibly connect advertising
to increases in alcohol use (or abuse) or to young persons taking up drinking. The
prevalence of reckless misinterpretation and misapplication of science allows advocacy
groups and the media to stretch research findings to suit their preconceived positions.

For example, one study showed that adolescents who drank alcohol could remember
alcohol ads better than adolescents who did not drink. But what does that prove? If

researchers found that green-colored automobiles had more accidents than cars of other
colors, would that prove the color green causes accidents?

Another study, supported by the Center on Alcohol Advertising, purportedly showed that
people who knew about the federal guidelines on moderate drinking drank less than
people who didn’t know. Poppycock! The many variables that affect behavior and define
moderate drinking are scientifically uncontrollable. Anyone with any scientific
knowledge knows the study is nonsense.

The Zealotry of Protecting Youth
But the issue of whether alcohol advertising should be restricted goes beyond what I have
noted. Nowhere is this emotional issue more conspicuous than in the zealotry of
protecting youth. A recent newspaper editorial reflects the hypocrisy at work here. The
editorial advised banning TV alcohol advertising to protect young people. Yet I know of
no newspaper publisher ready to forgo alcohol-ad revenue. Members of the print media
rationalize this hypocrisy by calling television the medium that reaches most minors. The
adage that it’s easy to give advice one needn’t take applies here.

Deaf to advice and blind to facts, anti-alcohol advocacy groups continue their mission to
protect young people from the dissoluteness of the adult world. And they amass statistics
on all kinds of problems to increase their power. During our adolescent years we tested
me world by taking risks, and we made it. So will the present generation of teenagers.
But there endures a sturdy, albeit insecure, band of believers dedicated to the idyllic
dream of the innocent, sheltered child.

The results of a national survey of high-school students belie this perfect-child fantasy. In
the study, researchers with the Addiction Research Foundation in Ontario, Canada, found
that 76 percent of twelfth graders and 69 percent of tenth graders in the United States
drank alcohol in 1996. State surveys have shown even higher rates of consumption by
young people: An analysis of four large surveys of eleventh graders in Ohio showed that
87 percent of the boys and 82 percent of the girls drank alcohol.

A book from England, The Normal and the Abnormal in Adolescent Drinking , provides a
realistic picture of alcohol and adolescence. The authors contend that adolescent drinking
is a normal part of the socialization process, wherein teenagers experiment with and
acquire adult behavior. The high incidence of adolescent drinking buttresses this
argument. But the authors further contend that adolescent abstinence is as deviant as
excessive drinking. I agree with their position. Abstinence and excessive drinking are
unhealthy extremes. Neither behavior should be encouraged, for in the real world
drinking alcohol in moderation is socially acceptable.

The idea of considering teenage abstinence abnormal will shock most Americans. But
evidence that most tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders in the United States drank some
alcohol last year suggests that abstinence is indeed abnormal in this age group. Thus, the
goal of abstinence for adolescents is unrealistic. It is common worldwide to view both

abstinence and excessive drinking as abnormal. Experts in many countries do not make
abstinence the only acceptable treatment goal for people recovering from alcoholism. The
Puritans held that temptation was to be avoided at all costs, since it would surely lead one
down the road to perdition. Are America’s all-or-nothing principles part of their legacy?

Young People Do Not Mindlessly Obey Advertisements
The U.S. Supreme Court made a telling point when it decided to overturn the Rhode
Island ban on advertising alcoholic-beverage prices: “Keeping users of a product ignorant
[in order] to manipulate their choices just doesn’t work.” The time has come for us to
reexamine our attitudes toward teenage drinking. Teaching adolescents how to drink
sensibly is a good way to begin.

Advocacy groups claim, without evidence, that alcohol advertising encourages young
people to drink. With such an easy target as alcoholic beverages, evidence seems
unnecessary. And the lust to blame something or someone for youthful waywardness is
so intense that parents can be held legally responsible for their children’s wanton acts.

Trying to lend young people a helping hand is, in itself, exemplary. But in their zeal,
child-protection advocates may be contributing to the problems they work so hard to
prevent. The cult of expertise has made parents feel incapable of raising their children.
But as a parent and a psychiatrist, I trust the instincts of parents more than I do the hubris
of child-protection experts.

Advertising has long been an accepted part of our daily lives. And because marketing
tools are ubiquitous, some people attribute an omnipotence of sorts to Madison Avenue.
Money spent on advertising a product is well spent when the advertising is directed to
people inclined to purchase that product. But advertising money is wasted when the aim
is to induce people to behave contrary to their wishes.

In Advertising, Alcohol Consumption, and Abuse, Joseph C. Fisher states: “I have
developed a profound respect for consumers. They are not vulnerable, gullible, or easily
malleable, but rather know their own minds and act accordingly.” Critics claim that
advertising influences young people to use “forbidden” products. They cite young
people’s rote responses as proof that they have been seduced. But such arguments imply
that young people are like animals that respond mindlessly to stimuli.

Advocacy groups claim that alcohol advertising seduces young people to drink before
they “know better,” predisposing them to physiological and psychological addiction in
adulthood and making freedom of choice moot. But the claim that advertising can lead
anyone down the bottle-strewn garden path not only to drink alcohol but to abuse it, is
pure hokum.

And reckless warnings can increase the allure of a product to people with self-destructive
tendencies. According to some studies, putting warning labels on products can have the
opposite effect.

Paternalism Tends to Backfire
Marion Winik’s description of her youth in First Comes Love illustrates how anti-alcohol
efforts can backfire: “The minute someone said I shouldn’t do something or couldn’t have
something, this is not allowed, don’t go there, stay away, every cell in my body rushed
toward it, every synapse in my brain started firing. I had to turn that ‘no’ into a ‘yes’ or die
trying.”

This natural tendency to “go against the grain” is a reality of teenage life. Risk is part of
growing up. Young people are not robotic anonyms and should not be regarded as such.
They are human individuals and have an ancient, instinctive need to experiment.
Paternalism dampens the spirit, fosters resentment, and perpetuates itself.

Events in the former Soviet Union cast doubt on the assertion that alcohol advertising
causes undesirable behavior: In an attempt to stem serious nationwide alcohol-abuse
problems, the Communist government banned all promotion of alcoholic beverages–after
which intemperance increased and Russia arguably became the world leader in drinking
problems.

And so, beware! If we invoke science to dress prejudice as policy, we do not merely
pervert science: We demean policy and the laws we live by as well.

FURTHER READINGS

Books

• Dick B. The Good Book and the Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible. Paradise
Research Publications, 1997.

• Edward Behr. Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America. New York:
Arcade Publishing,

1996.

• Charles Bufe. Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure? Tucson, AZ: See Sharp
Press, 1998.

• Morris E. Chafetz. Drink Moderately and Live Longer: Understanding The Good
of Alcohol. Lanham, MD: Scarborough House,

1995.

• Morris E. Chafetz. The Tyranny of Experts: Blowing the Whistle on the Cult of
Expertise. Lanham, MD: Madison, 1996.

• Timothy E. Donohue. In the Open: Diary of a Homeless Alcoholic. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1996.

• Jerry Dorsman. How to Quit Drinking Without AA: A Complete Self-Help Guide.
Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1998.

• James Graham. The Secret History of Alcoholism: The Story of Famous
Alcoholics and Their Destructive Behavior. Boston: Element, 1996.

• Pete Hamill. A Drinking Life: A Memoir. Boston: Little, Brown, 1995.
• David J. Hanson. Alcohol Education: What We Must Do. Westport, CT: Praeger,

1996.

• David J. Hanson. Preventing Alcohol Abuse. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1995.
• Raymond V. Haring. Shattering Myths and Mysteries of Alcohol: Insights and

Answers to Drinking, Smoking, and Drug Use . Healthspan Communications,
1998.

• Jonathan Harris. This Drinking Nation. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
• Hazelden Foundation. The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Center City,

MN: Hazelden Information Education, 1996.
• Mark Gauvreau Judge. Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk. Center City, MN:

Hazelden Information Education, 1997.
• Audrey Kishline. Moderate Drinking: The Moderation Management Guide for

People Who Want to Reduce Their Drinking. New York: Crown, 1994.
• Caroline Knapp. Drinking: A Love Story. New York: Dial Press, 1996.
• George McGovern. Terry: My Daughter’s Life-and-Death Struggle with

Alcoholism. New York: Plume, 1997.
• Hank Nuwer. Wrongs of Passage: Fraternities, Sororities, Hazing, and Binge

Drinking. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.
• Robert M. O’Neil. Alcohol Advertising on the Air: Beyond the Reach of

Government? Washington, DC: The Media Institute, 1997.
• Edmund B. O’eilly. Sobering Tales: Narratives of Alcoholism and Recovery.

Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1997.
• Stanton Peele. The Diseasing of America: How We Allowed Recovery Zealots and

the Treatment Industry to Convince Us We Are Out of Control . San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 1999.

• Laurence Pringle. Drinking: A Risky Business. New York: William Morrow,
1997.

• Ken Ragge. The Real AA: Behind the Myth of 12-Step Recovery. Tucson, AZ: See
Sharp Press, 1998.

• Ronald L. Rogers et al. Freeing Someone You Love firm Alcohol and Other
Drugs: A Step-by-Step Plan Starting Today! New York: Perigee, 1992.

• Marc Alan Schuckit. Educating Yourself About Alcohol and Drugs: A People’s
Printer. New York: Plenum Press, 1998.

• Jacob Sullum. For Your Own Good: The Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny
of Public Health. New York: Free Press, 1998.

• Jack Trimpey. Rational Recovery: The New Cure for Substance Abuse Addiction.
New York: Pocket Books, 1996.

• George E. Vaillant. The Natural History of Alcoholism Revisited. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1995.

Periodicals

• Mike Brake. “Needed: A License to Drink,” Newsweek, March 14, 1994.
• Jane E. Brody. “Intervening with Someone Who Drinks Too Much,” New York

Times, April 12, 1995.
• Neil J. Carr. “Liberating Spirituality: 60 Years of AA,” America, June 17-24,

1995.

• Center for Media Education. “ABSOLUTe Web: Tobacco and Alcohol Industries
Launch into Cyberspace,” Infoactive Kids, Winter 1997. Available from
http://www.cme.org.

• CQ Researcher. “Alcohol Advertising,” March 14, 1997. Available from 1414
22nd St. NW, Washington, DC 20037.

• CQ Researcher. “Drinking on Campus,” March 20, 1998. Available from 1414
22nd St. NW, Washington, DC 20037.

• Tiffany Danitz. “Will One Less for the Road Impair U.S. Civil Liberties?” Insight
on the News, May 19, 1997. Available from 3600 New York Ave. NE,
Washington, DC 20001.

• Andrew Delbanco and Thomas Delbanco. “A.A. at the Crossroads,” New Yorker,
March 20, 1995.

• John J. DiIulio Jr. “Broken Bottles: Alcohol, Disorder, and Crime,” Brookings
Review, Spring 1996.

• Rodger Doyle. “Deaths Caused by Alcohol,” Scientific American, December
1996.

• Susan Gilbert. “Why Some Light Drinkers at 20 May Still Be on Track to
Alcoholism,” New York Times , March 13, 1996.

• James K. Glassman. “Next Target: Liquor Companies?” U.S. News & World
Report, July 7, 1997.

• Christine Gorman. “Can a Drunk Learn Moderation?” Time, July 10, 1995.
• Dianne R. Hales. “A Drink Is What Gets Me Through,” Good Housekeeping,

November 1997.
• Constance Holden. “New Clues to Alcoholism Risk,” Science , May 29, 1998.
• Issues and Controversies On File. “Alcohol Issues,” February 20, 1998.
• Journal of the American Medical Association . “Benefits and Dangers of

Alcohol,” January 6, 1999. Available from PO Box 10945, Chicago, IL 60610.
• Audrey Kishline. “A Toast to Moderation,” Psychology Today, January/February

1996.
• Charles Krauthammer. “The New Prohibitionism,” Time, October 6, 1997.
• Laurie Leiber and Morris E. Chafetz. “Should the Government Restrict

Advertising of Alcoholic Beverages?” Priorities, vol. 9, no. 3, 1997. Available
from 1995 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10023-5860.

• David Leonhardt. “How Big Liquor Takes Aim at Teens,” Business Week, May
19, 1997.

• Frank D. McConnell. “The Elephant in the Room,” Commonweal, March 27,
1998.

• Per Ola and Emily d’Aulaire. “I Can Quit Whenever I Want,” Reader’s Digest,
June 1997.

• Walter Olson. “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of a Good Beer: How the ADA Has
Turned Alcoholism into a Right,” Washington Monthly, September 1997.

• Brian O’eilly. “In a Dry Era You Can Still Be Trapped by Drinking,” Fortune,
March 6, 1995.

• Stanton Peele and Albert Lowenfels. “Should Doctors Recommend Alcohol to
Their Patients?” Priorities, no. 1, 1996. Available from 1995 Broadway, 2nd
Floor, New York, NY 10023-5860.

• Joyce Howard Price. “New Battle About Evil Spirits,” Insight on the News,
February 1, 1999. Available from 3600 New York Ave. NE, Washington, DC
20001.

• Susan Quick. “Five Half-Truths About Alcohol–and the Surprising Whole
Truths,” Glamour, May 1997.

• Frank Reismann and David Carroll. “A New View of Addiction: Simple and
Complex,” Social Policy, Winter 1996. Available from 25 W. 43rd St., Room
620, New York, NY 10036.

• Joann Ellison Rodgers. “Addiction: A Whole New View,” Psychology Today,
September 1, 1994.

• Sally L. Satel. “The Fallacies of No-Fault Addiction,” Public Interest , January
15, 1999.

• Dave Shiflett. “Here’s to Your Health,” American Spectator, October 1996.
• Nancy Shute. “The Drinking Dilemma,” U.S. News & World Report, September

8, 1997.
• Norman Solomon. “The Partnership for a Candor-Free America,” Humanist,

May/June 1997.
• Jacob Sullum. “Bottle Battle,” Reason, February 10, 1999.
• Elizabeth M. Whelan. “Perils of Prohibition: Why We Should Lower the Drinking

Age to 18,” Newsweek, May 29, 1995.

Source Citation: “Alcohol Advertising Does Not Promote Underage Drinking” by
Morris E. Chafetz. Alcoholism . James D. Torr, Ed. Current Controversies Series.
Greenhaven Press, 2000. Reprinted from Morris E. Chafetz, “Should the Government
Restrict Advertising of Alcoholic wBeverages?–No,” Priorities, vol. 9, no. 3, 1997, by
permission of Priorities, a publication of the American Council on Science and Health,
1995 Broadway, 2nd floor New York, NY 10023-5860.
Reproduced in Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale
Group. 2004http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/OVRC

Thomson Gale is a Thomson Corporation Company.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center

Athletes Are More Vulnerable to Anorexia than Non-
Athletes

Liz Applegate

Liz Applegate is a contributor to Runner’s World magazine.

Source Database: At Issue: Anorexia

Table of Contents: Further Readings | Source Citation

Athletes are believed to be more vulnerable to anorexia and other eating disorders than
nonathletes. In particular, anorexia tends to strike most often among athletes competing
in sports, such as gymnastics, running, and wrestling, that require lean body types.
Researchers believe that because of the highly competitive nature of sports, equally
competitive participants become obsessed with maximizing their performance. The
character traits found in many anorexics, such as perfectionism and obsessive behavior,
are usually traits that can be observed in highly competitive athletes. Experts think that
competitive sports can trigger an eating disorder in an athlete with an obsessive and
competitive personality.

Three female college students entered my office one afternoon desperate for advice that
might help their roommate. “All Elise does is run,” one of them told me. “She hardly eats
anything, and she still thinks she needs to lose weight!” “We’re just so worried about
her,” another said. “Elise is so skinny, but she denies anything is wrong. We want to
confront her about it, but we don’t know how.” The third asked, “Do you think running
started this whole thing?”

As you might guess, their description of Elise fit the classic profile of a person with the
eating disorder anorexia nervosa. If left untreated, Elise’s drive for thinness could land
her in serious trouble, such as irreversible bone disease or even death. And these young
women were right to be concerned that Elise’s excessive running might be at the root of
her eating and weight troubles. In fact, several studies have shown that compared with
nonathletes, athletic men and women–especially those in sports in which body weight
and shape are an issue, such as running, wrestling and gymnastics–have a greater

incidence of abnormal eating behaviors and the full-blown clinical eating disorders
anorexia and bulimia.

So, for good reason, many runners question their own eating and exercise patterns. Many
of us use running as a weight-control tool. And why not? Running burns calories, and it’s
good for you to boot. But sometimes we may find ourselves “running off” occasional
indulgences–that is, using exercise to “make up” for our not-so-healthy eating habits.
When this “eat-and-run” behavior becomes a compulsion, it may signal the onset of an
eating disorder.

The quest for thinness
Though they occur mostly in young women, anorexia and bulimia can strike anyone.
Anorexia consists of a cluster of behaviors and symptoms, including self-induced
starvation, an intense fear of becoming fat, body weight that’s 15 percent or more below
the normal range for one’s height, and, in women, amenorrhea (the loss of a regular
menstrual cycle).

Despite their frail appearance, anorexics view themselves as fat. Their distorted body
image drives them to lose more and more weight, primarily through severe calorie-
cutting and excessive exercise, which gives them a feeling of control. Usually
perfectionists and highly motivated people, anorexics are typically college educated,
single and from middle-to upper-class families. But they have low self-esteem, believed
to stem from an upbringing by overly protective or controlling parents.

Bulimia affects many more individuals than anorexia. By some reports, anywhere from
15 to 62 percent of all female college athletes suffer from this eating disorder. And, like
anorexia, bulimia strikes most often among athletes in sports in which a lean physique is
crucial to performance.

Bulimics indulge in frequent episodes of binge eating, during which they often feel a
sense of helplessness and a lack of self-control. Afterward, their feelings of extreme guilt
and self-disgust prompt purging of the unwanted calories (usually by vomiting or the use
of laxatives and diuretics) to prevent weight gain. Some may use excessive exercise such
as running or stair-climbing for hours as a means of purging. But because bulimics are
usually normal in body weight and appearance, family and friends may be unaware of
their battle with food.

Anorexia and bulimia don’t develop overnight; many athletes may be suffering from
what’s called a subclinical eating disorder, a possible precursor to a clinical problem.
According to leading researchers, athletes may take up abnormal eating behaviors such as
skipping meals, 24-hour fasts, calorie restriction and occasional purging (maybe once a
week instead of the two or more times per week seen in bulimia) as a means to lose
weight. They may also be obsessed with their weight and very fearful of becoming fat.
The number of athletes with a subclinical eating disorder is unknown, but the problem is

believed to be rampant in such sports as gymnastics, crew, wrestling, volleyball and
running.

Runners at risk?
With all this glum news about exercise and eating disorders, it’s only fair to ask if
running–or any exercise, for that matter–may trigger these abnormal habits. Some
researchers theorize that commitment to an exercise program such as training for a
marathon could lead to eating disorders for some personality types or may aggravate an
existing problem. For example, psychological traits such as high achievement orientation
and perfectionism are common both in people with eating disorders and in athletes.
Such traits are usually essential for successful competition.

What this may mean is that, given the right conditions, some people with certain
personality types may be predisposed to develop eating disorders. Dr. Jorunn Sundgot-
Borgen of the Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education in Oslo studies the
factors that may trigger or exacerbate eating disorders in female athletes. In one study,
she evaluated middle- and long-distance runners who were identified as “at risk” for
eating disorders based on their scores on a specially designed questionnaire.

Dr. Sundgot-Borgen found that anorexia, bulimia and a subclinical eating disorder called
anorexia athletica were likely to take hold when an athlete began dieting or experienced
frequent weight fluctuations. Also, those athletes who started dieting at a younger age
were more likely to develop a serious eating problem. A traumatic event such as an injury
also appeared to set off eating disorders, perhaps because of forced inactivity, which in
turn may have led to unwanted weight gain.

Another potential trigger noted by Dr. Sundgot-Borgen was an abrupt increase in training
volume that coincided with a sudden loss of weight, most likely due to the extra exertion.
In any case, athletes weren’t eating enough, and this lack of calories may have created a
psychological and biological “climate” that prompted an eating disorder to develop.

Other researchers have noted that eating disorders in athletes may be connected to our
genetic makeup. In fact, substance-abuse problems and clinical depression, both
inheritable conditions, are common in bulimics and anorexics.

Triple trouble
Eating disorders bring with them a myriad of health problems. Low calorie intake or
sporadic eating, for example, results in poor performance and endurance. When we cheat
the body of food, our low intake of protein and key vitamins and minerals can weaken the
immune system and lead to chronic illnesses and fatigue. Also, skimpy nutrition makes
injuries more likely and slows recovery.

But more threatening to an athlete’s long-term health is a condition known as the female
athlete triad: an eating disorder in combination with amenorrhea and osteoporosis (the
debilitating bone disease seen most often in elderly women). Researchers and health
professionals have identified this serious complex of problems in many female athletes of
all ability levels and ages.

While it’s not clear which comes first, eating disorders and menstrual irregularities are
connected. Many women athletes–including an estimated 25 to 40 percent of female
endurance athletes–experience amenorrhea or missed periods. But among women with
diagnosed eating disorders and even those with subclinical problems, amenorrhea is
much more common. Though some women athletes may welcome this condition as “less
hassle,” the consequences are severe.

Depressed levels of the female hormone estrogen accompany amenorrhea, and with this
deficiency comes bone-mineral loss, or premature osteoporosis. In fact, even in young
women, calcium loss from the bones can cause stress fractures and even fractures of the
vertebrae similar to those seen in 80-year-olds.

Treatment of the female athlete triad requires the help of physicians, dietitians and
mental-health professionals. In extreme situations, especially in women with prolonged
cases, hospitalization may be needed. And, as with other serious diseases, prevention is
key. This requires vigilance on the part of parents, coaches and friends watching for signs
of abnormal eating and exercise behaviors.

Like Elise’s roommates, if you see a friend or loved one seemingly wasting away before
your eyes, don’t be afraid to get involved. Ask him or her to seek professional guidance
and treatment and offer your help in finding that guidance. And if your friends and family
are sounding the alarm by constantly saying you look gaunt and unhealthy, consider the
possibility that they may be right. Talk to a counselor. Eating disorders are no trivial
matter; they can be deadly.

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