As many as one quarter of ballet dancers are estimated to suffer from either anorexia nervosa or bulimia. These diseases represent the most extreme end in a spectrum of eating pathology. Since the long-term mortality rate is quite high in anorexia and increases with duration of the disease, it is crucial that eating pathology be recognized, and intervention begun, as early as possible. There are both physical and behavioral changes associated with eating disorders that may aid concerned professionals, friends, or family members in distinguishing between illness and thinness, and dedication and compulsion.
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