Hidden and Lesser-known Disordered Eating Behaviors in Medical and Psychiatric Conditions

This book provides up-to-date information on lesser known eating disorders (EDs) and eating related disorders. EDs and eating-related disorders include a highly heterogeneous group of syndromes and symptoms characterized by abnormal eating and weight control behaviors that can appear in all genders and ages. EDs can lead to high rates of morbidity and mortality, especially if they are misdiagnosed and untreated.  The risk of underestimation is high for the lesser-known ED, and when unhealthy eating behaviors appear in unusual situations, such as some medical and psychiatric pathologies, adults and the elderly, sexual minorities etc. 

The volume examines EDs in specific populations (the elderly, males, infants and toddlers, sexual minorities, etc.). Several chapters explore in detail lesser-known EDs (anorexia athletica, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, chewing and spitting, EDs by proxy, EDs after bariatric surgery, muscle dysmorphia, night-eating syndrome, nocturnal sleep-related eating disorder, orthorexia nervosa, pica, rumination disorder, etc.). Finally, other chapters address features of unhealthy eating and weight control behaviors associated with medical diseases (achalasia, craniopharyngioma, cystic fibrosis, cyclic vomiting syndrome, diabetes, dysphagia, Kleine-Levin syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome, Parkinson disease, Prader-Willi syndrome, Turner syndrome, etc.)

The book will be a valuable resource for all health professionals who work in the fields of psychiatry, clinical psychology, eating disorders, obesity, medicine, clinical nutrition, public health, and prevention, allowing them to broaden their understanding of these disorders, and to enhance their clinical ability to diagnose them.

Emilia Manzato is currently Chief of the Eating Disorders Unit at the Private Hospital Salus Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy, and former Professor on Contract at the University of Ferrara. She received her medical degree from the University of Padua, Italy, where she also completed her specialization in psychiatry. She is a National Council Member of the Italian Society for the Study of Eating Disorders (SISDCA), and former President of the Emilia Romagna Region for the SISDCA. She is the author of more than 30 international publications, one book chapter and a book; further, she has edited one book on obesity.

Massimo Cuzzolaro is a renowned psychiatrist and former researcher with longstanding service as professor of psychiatry at the University of Rome Sapienza, Italy, where he was chief of an eating disorders unit from 1981 to 2008 and a consultant psychiatrist in a bariatric surgery unit from 1995 to 2008. Massimo Cuzzolaro is a past president of the Italian Society for the Study of Eating Disorders. He has been a member of various international and national scientific societies and has been an editorial board member of several scientific journals. He was Editor-in-Chief of Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia, and Obesity from 1996 to 2020. His research interests have included clinical psychiatry, psychotherapy, eating disorders, obesity, and body image disorders. Massimo Cuzzolaro is the author or co-author of more than 300 scientific articles and book chapters and of ten books.

Lorenzo M. Donini is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, and Head of the Research Unit on “Food Science and Human Nutrition” of the Department of Experimental Medicine at the “Sapienza” University, Rome, Italy. Since 2010, he has been Head of the Nutritional Status Evaluation Laboratory at the Policlinico Umberto I in Rome (teaching hospital of the Sapienza University), which is mainly devoted to sarcopenic obese subjects. He is also President of the Degree Course for Dietitians, coordinator of the activities of the teaching staff at the Specialisation School in Food Science and Nutrition, CEO of the CIISCAM (International inter-university center for Mediterranean food culture studies), and President of the SISDCA (Italian Society for the Study of Eating Disorders). He has published more than 150 scientific articles and more than 30 book chapters on malnutrition, obesity and metabolism, eating behavior (orthorexia nervosa, senile anorexia), and sustainability of the Mediterranean diet. He is peer reviewer for many scientific journals, serves on the Editorial Board of various journals dealing with food science and nutrition, and since 2020 is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Eating and Weight Disorders.