What is megarexia, the eating disorder "scrap"?

Psychologists and doctors express their concern about the increase in disorders related to eating. From anorexia or bulimia to morbid obesity, they affect people’s health. Megarexia is added, a new disorder that affects millions of people in the world.

Megarexia refers to an eating disorder that causes people to have a body image distortion and that they do not correctly perceive the image of their body and how it is. In other words, It is an unrecognized obesity and that implies many risks for the people who suffer from it because it can lead to morbid obesity.

For Tatiana Montoya, professor of Psychology at the Franz Tamayo University, Unifranz, this disorder has a high incidence, mainly in men over 45 years of age.

Meanwhile, the director of the Psychology program at the Franz Tamayo University, Unifranz, James Robles reveals that megarexia is characterized by a pattern of eating behavior is characterized by the consumption of high-calorie foods and unhealthy (junk food), with alterations in perception because the person believes they are much thinner than they are.

“It is important to note that megarexia is not considered a mental illness. However, there may be health problems related to excessive food consumption, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other physical health problems, ”says Robles.

Different from other eating disorders

Montoya explains the four most important disorders linked to eating and physical activity:

The bulimia characterized by binge eating, followed by vomiting and guilty feelings by the people who suffer from it and who follow a whole ritual.

The anorexia nervosa alludes to the self-restrictive behavior diet to lose weight.

By orthodexy is considered to obsession pathological and with irrational thoughts for eating healthy and check the quality of food.

The allusion to vigorexia or muscular dysmorphia allows us to refer to a mental disorder that is characterized by the obsession with gaining muscle mass. Those who suffer from it experience a distortion of body image that has to do with not looking muscular or strong enough. It is associated with the compulsive exercise of weight lifting.

megarexia it differs from these other four disorders because people who have it have a distorted body image in the sense that they do not look obese, and they fail to correctly perceive body image they have in relation to their health.

Treatment similar to that for eating disorders

The treatment that must be followed in cases of megarexia is the same as for eating disorders that involve excessive consumption of food, such as bulimia nervosa or binge eating or night eating disorder, which involves a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychotherapy and possibly medication. The important thing is to create tools to establish healthier eating habits and improve the relationship with food.

Robles focuses treatment on the help the person requires to address and control underlying emotions that contribute to your eating behavior and learn new skills to manage negative thoughts and feelings that may be triggering your eating pattern.

Megarexia can lead to obesity

The long-term effects of megarexia and other eating disorders from overconsumption of food lead to obesity. These cases lead to chronic disease risk such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer.

“There are many risks they run in terms of their health, without taking into account other risks such as being multipathological patients in the sense that they can develop several pathological diseases at the same time and run the risk of death,” Montoya says.

Family support, key to improvement

If a person is experiencing problems with eating and being overweight, there are several ways in which the family can accompany and offer support. James Robles mentions two forms of help:

Actively listen to what the loved one has to say about their situation and how they feel about the disorder they are going through.

achieve a support and containment network that allows you to manage your emotions, as well as therapeutic accompaniment for treatment by a multidisciplinary team.

Alarming facts about obesity

An article from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reports that the orkissing is one of the main risk factors of many non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke, as well as various types of cancer. In 2021, obesity was responsible for 2.8 million deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Americas.

Overweight and obesity rates have tripled in the region in the last 50 years, and these conditions currently affect 62.5% of the population.