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How Eating Disorders Can Damage the Heart
Contributor: Staff at McCallum Place
There’s an old saying that advises people to listen to their heart, and that adage couldn’t be more relevant for people who have eating disorders. These devastating conditions can wreak havoc on the body, and one part that truly feels that impact is the heart.
Years of research links eating disorders to heart trouble and failure. Researchers compared 818 women who were hospitalized for bulimia with more than 400,000 women who were hospitalized for pregnancy-related concerns. Over the course of 12 years, the women who were hospitalized for bulimia were more than four times more likely than the other women to have a heart attack or stroke [1].
What’s more, the researchers found that of every 1,000 people who have bulimia, about 10 will develop heart disease and around three will die each year. Compared with every 1,000 people who don’t have bulimia, around one person will develop heart disease every year [2].
“This study shows that bulimia has implications for a wide range of cardiovascular disorders later in life, as well as death,” Nathalie Auger, senior author of the study, told Reuters. “Patients [who have] bulimia may not know about these risks” [2].
But bulimia isn’t the only eating disorder that can damage the heart. An analysis of 23 studies involving more than 900 people who had anorexia nervosa found that 80% of them suffered from heart problems, compared with people who didn’t have anorexia [3]. And in a smaller study of 124 people who had severe symptoms of anorexia, all the participants had heart damage [4].
Although the outward effects of eating disorders are often the most obvious, what happens internally can sometimes be the most devastating.
More Harmful than People Realize
Eating disorders are mental illnesses, so a person who is struggling with one of these conditions suffers daily from harmful thoughts about their body or their relationship with food. To find relief, they do things they may not realize are detrimental, like skip meals, purge after eating, or exercise all day. The illness keeps telling them that it’s never enough, and they become trapped in a terrible cycle that worsens their emotional and physical state.
It’s a cycle that can have deadly consequences.
When someone doesn’t get enough nutrients, their body must find ways to keep functioning. It slows down to conserve energy and starts breaking down tissues and organs — including the heart — to use as alternative energy sources. As the heart becomes smaller and weaker, it has a harder time circulating blood. Over time, the person’s heart rate might slow, their blood pressure may decrease, and their risk for heart failure becomes even greater [5, 6].
It’s no wonder, then, that heart damage is one of the most common reasons people who have eating disorders are hospitalized. And within the past few years, hospitalizations for these conditions have doubled, with more people than ever suffering lasting harm to their health [6, 7].
Early Intervention is Key
Getting treatment at the earliest signs that a person is struggling with an eating disorder can keep them from straining their heart, and it can also support their overall health. While the recovery process is different for everyone, the goal is for a person to regain control of the symptoms that have been so harmful to their mental and physical health.
Experts in eating disorder treatment help people get to the root of their struggles with an eating disorder. In many cases, a person may be using food to cope with intense or painful emotions. Their treatment team can help them learn healthier ways to manage those emotions.
During treatment, a person can develop a healthier relationship with their body and food. This may happen through group or individual counseling sessions, which give people a safe, shame-free environment where they can talk about their experiences with an eating disorder. Trained counselors can also help participants break the harmful thought patterns that have kept them in such a destructive cycle.
As a person starts to see food in a different way, their treatment may then include learning how to interact with food in ways intended to nourish the body. This might involve learning how to plan and cook meals, order at a restaurant, and shop at grocery stores, all without allowing the eating disorder to be in control of the process.
Eating disorders can destroy the heart. But with the right treatment, a person can find recovery from an eating disorder — and keep their heart healthy.
References
[1] Tith, R.M., Paradis, G., Potter, B.J., Low, N., Healy-Profitós, J., He, S., & Auger, N. (2019). Association of bulimia nervosa with long-term risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality among women. JAMA Psychiatry. 77(1):44–51. DOI:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.2914 [2] Rapaport, L. (2019, October 22). Bulimia tied to higher risk of heart disease and premature death. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-bulemia-heart/bulimia-tied-to-higher-risk-of-heart-disease-and-premature-death-idUSKBN1X12E0 [3] Smythe, J., Colebourn, C., Prisco, L., Petrinic, T., & Leeson, P. (2021). Cardiac abnormalities identified with echocardiography in anorexia nervosa: Systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 219(3), 477-486. DOI:10.1192/bjp.2020.1 [4] Hanachi, M., Pleple, A., Barry, C., Dicembre, M., Latour, E., Duquesnoy, M., Melchior, J.C., & Fayssoil, A. (2020). Echocardiographic abnormalities in 124 severely malnourished adult anorexia nervosa patients: Frequency and relationship with body composition and biological features. Journal of Eating Disorders. 8, 66. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-020-00343-y [5] National Eating Disorders Association. (2022). Consequences. Retrieved from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/health-consequences [6] Northwestern Medicine. (2022). Disordered eating and your heart. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/anorexia-and-your-heart [7] Carbajal, E. (2021, November 17). Hospitalizations for eating disorders doubled last year, study finds. Becker’s Hospital Review. Retrieved from https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/hospitalizations-for-eating-disorders-doubled-last-year-study-finds.htmlAbout The Sponsor
McCallum Place is an eating disorder treatment center with locations in St. Louis, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas. We provide comprehensive treatment for adolescents and adults.
The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective on eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope but an effort to offer a discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.
We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.
Published March 29, 2022 on EatingDisorderHope.com
Reviewed & Approved on March 29, 2024, by Baxter Ekern, MBA
