Eating Disorders: Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating

Eating Disorders

• Characterized by harmful eating patterns, including Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa.

Binge Eating Disorder

• Recurrent episodes of binge eating and feelings of loss of control over eating.
• Episodes can be triggered by emotions such as frustration, anger, depression, and anxiety.
• Lasts at least 6 months.

Demographics

• Affects anyone, but most likely to affect teenage females.
• Estimated 1 million people affected in the UK, with majority being 12-25 year-old women.

Causes

• Linked to emotions, including boredom, anxiety, anger, loneliness, shame, and sadness.
• Often a combination of factors, including low self-esteem, family relationships, and past abuse.
• Genetic makeup may have a small impact.

Anorexia Nervosa

• Characterized by psychological loss or rejection of appetite, followed by self-starvation.
• Related to distorted body image and social pressures commonly associated with puberty.
• Involves significant weight loss of 15% or more of ideal body weight.

Bulimia Nervosa

• Involves binge eating and purging through vomiting, laxatives, diuretics, or enemas.
• Patients are typically at normal weight or above, unlike anorexia nervosa.

Eating Disorders

• Characterized by harmful eating patterns, including Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa.

Binge Eating Disorder

• Recurrent episodes of binge eating and feelings of loss of control over eating.
• Episodes can be triggered by emotions such as frustration, anger, depression, and anxiety.
• Lasts at least 6 months.

Demographics

• Affects anyone, but most likely to affect teenage females.
• Estimated 1 million people affected in the UK, with majority being 12-25 year-old women.

Causes

• Linked to emotions, including boredom, anxiety, anger, loneliness, shame, and sadness.
• Often a combination of factors, including low self-esteem, family relationships, and past abuse.
• Genetic makeup may have a small impact.

Anorexia Nervosa

• Characterized by psychological loss or rejection of appetite, followed by self-starvation.
• Related to distorted body image and social pressures commonly associated with puberty.
• Involves significant weight loss of 15% or more of ideal body weight.

Bulimia Nervosa

• Involves binge eating and purging through vomiting, laxatives, diuretics, or enemas.
• Patients are typically at normal weight or above, unlike anorexia nervosa.

Eating Disorders

• Defined as harmful eating patterns, including Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa.

Characteristics of Eating Disorders

• Recurrent binge eating and feelings of loss of control over eating, lasting at least 6 months.
• Triggered by emotions such as frustration, anger, depression, anxiety, and permission to eat forbidden foods.

Affected Groups

• Can affect anyone, but most likely to affect teenage females.
• Estimated 1 million people affected in the UK, with majority being 12 to 25 year-old women.

Genetic and Emotional Links

• Genetic makeup may have a small impact on eating disorders.
• Often linked to emotions such as boredom, anxiety, anger, loneliness, shame, and sadness.
• Can be a combination of many factors, events, feelings, or pressures, including low self-esteem, family relationships, and sexual or emotional abuse.

Types of Eating Disorders

Anorexia Nervosa

• Involves psychological loss or rejection of appetite, followed by self-starvation.
• Related to distorted body image and social pressures associated with puberty.
• Characterized by significant weight loss of 15% or more of ideal body weight.

Bulimia Nervosa

• Involves binge eating and then purging from the body by vomiting, or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas.
• Patients are at normal weight or above.

Factors Influencing Eating Disorders

• Lifestyle
• Food preferences
• Early childhood experiences and exposure
• Genetics
• Taste and appearance
• Health and nutrition
• Religion
• Cost
• Family relationships

Marketing Nutrition and Health Promotion

• Marketing: the process by which individuals and groups get what they need and want by creating and exchanging products and values with others.
• Purpose of marketing: to find a problem, need, or want and to find a solution to it.

Developing a Marketing Plan

• Step 1: Determine the needs and wants of the target population because marketing always starts with the customer.
• Step 2: Specify the benefits of the product or service to the target population.
• Step 3: Develop a budget and timetable.
• Step 4: Implement the plan according to the original design and then evaluate its effectiveness.
• Step 5: Develop a marketing strategy for ensuring a good fit between the goals and resources of the organization and the needs and wants of the target population.

Marketing Strategy

• Specifies a target market and four elements: Product, Place, Price, and Promotion.
• Product: all of the characteristics of the product or service that are to be exchanged with the target market.
• Place: the actual location where the exchange takes place, including accessibility and comfort for the client.
• Price: both tangible and intangible costs that the consumer must bear in the marketing exchange.
• Promotion: the organization’s informative or communication with the target market.

Marketing Tools

• Publicity Tools:
  • Articles in newsletters or newspapers
  • Informational brochures
  • Radio and television interviews
  • Internet web sites
  • Public service announcements (PSAs)
  • Direct mail
  • Word-of-mouth

Conducting a Situational Analysis

• Analyze the potential market, the environment in which the product or service will be positioned, and the competition.
• Select a target market that will be the primary focus.
• Situational analysis: a detailed assessment of the environment, including an evaluation of the consumer, the competition, and any other factors that may affect the program or business.

Market Research: Target Markets

• Each target market should be viewed as a separate and different audience.
• Ideally, develop a specific marketing strategy for each target audience.
• Actual and potential markets should be divided further into subgroups, which is a process called market segmentation.

Market Segmentation

• Four classes of variables used for market segmentation:
  • Geographical segmentation: grouping people according to the location of their residence or work.
  • Demographic segmentation: grouping based on variables such as income, age, sex, occupation, family size, religion, and marital status.
  • Psychographic segmentation: based on criteria such as personal values, attitudes, opinions, behavior, lifestyle, and level of readiness for change.
  • Behavioristic segmentation: based on criteria such as purchase frequency and occasion, and attitude toward the product.

Nutrition of Minorities in the Community

• Racial and ethnic minorities in the USA:
  • May have less healthy food consumption patterns.
  • May have less access to healthy foods.
• Heterogeneous relationships between labor income and health by race/ethnicity in the USA:
  • Results highlight the need to provide safety nets for adults who experience a decline in income to prevent worsening health.

Saudi Arabia's Ethnic Groups and Nationalities

• Average fast food consumption per week in 2017-2018:
  • About 30.79% of respondents in Saudi Arabia stated they eat fast food less than once per week.
• Common food items in Saudi Arabian kitchen:
  • Wheat, rice, lamb, chicken, yogurt, potatoes, seafood, and dates.

USA Population Considerations

• Consumption of fast food:
  • Higher prevalence of fast food restaurants in African American and low-income neighborhoods.
  • Low-income and non-white individuals consume more fast food.
• Food preparation:
  • Individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups may have traditional cooking practices that put them at greater risk for chronic diseases.
• Demand for healthy foods:
  • Low availability of healthy foods in racial and ethnic minority neighborhoods.
• Target food marketing:
  • Advertising for unhealthy foods is often targeted more towards racial and ethnic minority audiences.
• Belief in diet-disease connection:
  • Different perceptions of disease risk in relation to group membership.
  • Individuals may not view chronic disease as something that can be prevented by healthy food consumption patterns and other lifestyle habits.
• Stress:
  • Ethnic and racial minorities may face multiple life stressors, such as discrimination, violence, and poverty.

Strategies to Address These Considerations

• Improve availability of healthy food choices.
• Improve access to healthy food choices.
• Make use of the power of media.
• Provide hands-on learning opportunities.
• Address barriers related to language.
• Tailor to culture.
• Provide cultural competency training.
• Involve the priority populations.
• Engage community stakeholders.
• Address participant needs.
• Use established settings.
• Develop a Healthy Food Palm (HFP) based on the culture and eating habits of Saudi Arabians.
• Launch a strategic plan for healthy food, focusing on key aspects that studies have shown to have a significant impact on public health.