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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:
Gay and bisexual men may be at far higher risk for eating disorders than heterosexual men, according to a study conducted at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
In the first population-based study of its kind, the researchers found that gay and bisexual men have higher rates of eating disorders.
According to the study results, more than 15 percent of gay or bisexual men had at some time suffered anorexia, bulimia or binge-eating disorder, or at least certain symptoms of those disorders -- a problem known as a subclinical eating disorder, compared with less than five percent of heterosexual men.
Just below 10 percent of lesbian and bisexual women and eight percent of heterosexual women had ever reported having a subclinical eating disorder.
To assess this theory, the investigators studied whether gay and bisexual men with greater connection and affiliation with the gay community are more likely to have eating disorders than those who are not affiliated with the gay community.
Despite slightly elevated eating disorders among men who were active in gay recreational groups, men who said they felt closely connected to the gay community and who participated in a range of gay and bisexual organizations did not have higher rates of eating disorders than men who were not as closely affiliated with the community.
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Posted on April 16, 2007 11:48 PM
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