Eating disorders are illnesses with a biological basis influenced and changed by emotional and cultural factors. There is insufficient information about eating disorders and because of this fact the public and professionals do not recognize the dangers of eating disorders. Eating disorders are serious. They are potentially life threatening and there is help available. Recovery from eating disorders is possible.

If you are the parent of a child with an eating disorder you probably already monitor meals, friends and activities. Two new studies from researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital tell us there is now a need for monitoring your child’s internet use, and pre-teen weight loss in seemingly healthy children. Watch out for bad advice from pro-eating disorder websites. One study indicates that pro-eating disorder websites may promote dangerous behaviors in adolescents with eating disorders. The second study indicates that pre-teens with eating disorders tend to lose weight more quickly than adolescents with the condition and weigh comparatively less at diagnosis