An important bilateral issue related to food intake, which pediatricians themselves discover in the cases they consider, was “bequeathed” pandemic in some children and adolescents.

it’s about her obesity but also eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia nervosa, which were launched in the midst of lockdowns, as noted in the summer of 2021 and in a Harvard Medical School report.

The loss of familiarity has been cited as a possible explanation for this increase. routine and regular contact with friends, pandemic anxiety, boredom and food insecurity at home. Then indeed Bryn OToprofessor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health and director of the Strategic Education Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders, stated in a New York Times article: What the demand for treatment for eating disorders “far outstrips the capacity to deal with it”.

How are they quarantine triggered eating disorders

In a conversation with “K” Mr. Artemis titAssociate Professor, Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine EKPA’s Adolescent Health Supervisor explains that the problem is due to a combination of factors.

“An important reason why eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia nervosa and anorexia nervosa have increased orthorexia, first of all, it was a reduction in sports and physical activity, due to the restriction of movement during it pandemic. Sports activities they play an important role in how children and adolescents perceive themselves, which suffer of these disorders existence their.

As explained by Ms. tit: “In addition to the lack of intense fitness, you also remember how long the gyms were closed, there was also no access, or very difficult access, to the very specific food chosen by those who suffer from these disorders. Periodically closing stores and the simultaneous absence of some products in the market it was hard for these people to find a reason mercy, Quinoawhich they may consider as the A and Z of their diet. The obsession with healthy food could not be easily satisfied. The rapid change in routine affected this group and in these incidents we have seen great disorganization. In fact, according to international literature, eating disorders doubled during the pandemic.”

For her part, Ms. Eleni Panaguli, Pediatrician and Adolescent Health (MEY) EKPA says: “We talked to teenage girls in the unit who us they reported that since the specials were not available nutritionally foods they wanted, many times they didn’t eat anything. As we have now entered a period where we are seeing the tangible footprint of the pandemic and in practice addressing the problems it has left for people, in practice we are finding that both the increase in obesity and eating disorders is great. There are parents who are only now fully aware of the problem of their child.“.

The use of food additives

A Harvard professor accused the supplement industry of “at that time proposed its products as solutions for vulnerable consumers who have struggled with mental anguish and fear of gaining weight during the pandemic.” He even pointed out the need to vote legislation, h which will impose strict restrictions on the sale of food and muscle supplements development which often contain toxic ingredients – in children and adolescents.

RS. Panaguli mentions at this point that doctors in his department are also noticing the use of dietary supplements EKPA. “We hear it more in psychogenic cases orthorexia but also in psychogenic anorexia, where need weight control and body impossible and strong, she is strong.”

However, she played an equally important role, according to Mr. Panaguli and greater difficulty in accessing medical services, as well as the categories of doctors that these people need sufferers such as pediatricians, child psychologists and very often also gynecologists (when an eating disorder is “accompanied” by a lack of menstruation flow).

OUR TO. tit notes that the increase in incidents such as those described above is an important issue that the Adolescent Affairs Unit must now address. Health from EKPAwhich was also closed for a long time during difficult times quarantine.

According to a study that published November 2022 According to the US journal JAMA Pediatrics, admissions of young people and adolescents with eating disorders to hospitals in the United States were already rising in the two years before the pandemic, registering a monthly increase of about 0.7%. However, in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, growth averaged 7.2% per month. As for the period from spring 2020 to spring 2021, when most restrictions due to Covid-19 came into effect, the amount of imports almost doubled. And maybe after the first year of the pandemic, the number of new patients began to decline, but it remained at a higher level than before the pandemic.

The problem of obesity and the use of screens

The rise of eating disorders is one side of the problem. On the other hand, there is obesity, or, in other words, the “sofa children” of the pandemic. “By examining these subdivisions over the last three years and combining them with elements of the international literature, it first appears that a significant proportion of children and adolescents significantly increased the number of meals they consumed during their studies. pandemic“, says “K” Mrs. Panaguli. WITHaccording to her, prolonged stay at home, especially during difficult times quarantinefatally led to the behavior described above.

Mrs. tit states that this increase in the number of meals also affected the consumption of fruits and vegetables, but unfortunately, most of the meals that increased were snacks, soft drinks, junk food and in general. packaged foods with a lot of sugar. OUR binge eating, often because of boredom, negatively combined with its sharp growth use screens.

“Long hours in front of the screen turned from one to a prolonged immobilityso in recruitment weight. On the other hand, and especially in teenager girls, active participation in social networks and the beauty standards that are being implemented there have caused more anxiety about the ideal body, ”explains Ms. tit.

However, the problem, according to both MEY experts, is that all of these habits mentioned above are “leftovers”. “so needed a lot of small meals, as well as the constant use of screens, is what we are often told about children and the teenagers we see in the squad from when we again began to be examined normally,” concludes Ms. Panaguli.