Recognising and diagnosing eating disorders in boys

One of the biggest problems for boys at risk of anorexia is the lack of recognition that anorexia might be developing. It is well known fact that the earlier the diagnosis of an eating disorder, the more speedy and successful the recovery is likely to be. However it is enormously difficult to recognise the signs in boys and lack of early diagnosis is a real problem. In addition boys can lose weight very quickly if they increase their levels of exercise and this compounds the problem.

In summary the key difficulties in diagnosing eating disorders in boys are as follows:

Healthy boys can be very skinny
Boys don’t have periods
Exercise is seen as a good thing
Building lean muscle is seen as a good thing
Boys have a higher daily calorie requirement than girls
Boys can lose weight more quickly
It is natural to assume there is a physical reason for weight loss
Alarm bells ring much later
GPs may be slower to suspect and diagnose an eating disorder in a boy