Linking Eating Disorders With Genetics

While Bulimia is known by many names, the term “bulimia” did not enter the English language until the 1970s, “perhaps representing lingering uncertainty about its essence” (Gordon, 2000). Bulimia, as we know it, is a modern disease, however, there is some evidence of binging and purging in ancient times; for example, in ancient Egypt, “physicians would recommend periodical purgation as a health practice” (Gordon, 2000). There has also been documentation of wealthy families in the middle ages vomiting during meals in order to continue eating large amounts of food. At this point, you may be wondering why these examples are not considered Bulimia Nervosa. According to Dr. Richard Allan Gordon, author of Eating Disorders: Anatomy of a Social Epidemic, these examples “show little evidence of a preoccupation with thinness and are unlikely examples of the modern eating disorder. In fact, the existence of Bulimia Nervosa as a distinct disorder prior to the twentieth century is highly unlikely…and even within the twentieth century, it did not emerge with full force until the 1970s”. In the …