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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

NC Minorities Receive Less Treatment for Eating Disorders

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Thursday, March 2, 2023   

As part of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, specialists are calling for additional funding, research and resources for people affected by the disorder.

In North Carolina, stigma and stereotype have made it harder for ethnic minorities to seek and receive treatment.

Researchers have not been able to pin down exactly what causes eating disorders, which can range from an unhealthy relationship with food to a lethal obsession with overeating, undereating, or both; often simultaneously.

Lauren Smolar, vice president of mission and education for the National Eating Disorders Association, said there are stereotypes associated with eating disorders, chief among them, a belief only young white women are affected.

"And those currently are the people who have the most access to care, but eating disorders do not discriminate," Smolar pointed out. "We know that they affect people of all different genders, sizes, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds."

Research from The University of North Carolina shows ethnic minorities have a harder time getting treatment because of those perceptions, and are less likely to pursue it as a result. Smolar noted eating disorders show up in various ways, including someone suddenly becoming obsessed with body image, drastic over- or undereating patterns, or no longer wanting to eat with other people, which can lead to additional obsessive behaviors.

She acknowledged pandemic-induced isolation heightened awareness of mental health issues including eating disorders, but added despite some progress, there is too little research, funding and social acceptance of them as lethal mental illnesses the way cancer is accepted as a deadly disease.

"But you can see cancer on a physical screening, whereas it's a little harder to show that an eating disorder is there, in essence," Smolar explained. "There is still a lot to be learned about brain chemistry and rewiring of brains and how mental health works, and it's much more normalized to talk about it, but there's just a lot more education that needs to be done."

Smolar emphasized because health care workers are not required to learn about eating disorders as part of their training, early detection is also lacking. The American Society for Nutrition reports more than 10,000 people die each year from eating disorders, the second most lethal such disorder behind only opioid addiction.


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