<p class="title">Hormone therapy may help reduce the feelings of body dissatisfaction associated with eating disorders including anorexia and bulimia in transgenders, a study has found.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Eating disorders including anorexia, bingeing, self- induced vomiting and the misuse of diet pills and laxatives have been linked to people's deep-seated unhappiness with their body, fuelled by Western society's obsession with an idealised image of beauty.</p>.<p class="bodytext">For some transgender people, striving to achieve a masculine or feminine body shape can influence their eating behaviours.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While in the case of transgender males (assigned female at birth but who identify as male) who are not on hormone treatment some may even restrict what they eat as a way of stopping menstruation.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Young transgender people may restrict their food as a way to control their puberty, stop their period or reduce the development of breasts," said Jon Arcelus, from the University of Nottingham in the UK.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Eating disorder professionals should consider the gender identity of the person when assessing a person with symptoms of eating disorders," Arcelus said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">For the study published in the journal European Eating Disorders Review, the researchers looked at more than 560 patients over the age of 17.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Just under 25 percent of the patients (139) had already started hormone treatment prior to the assessment, accessing the treatment through a range of avenues, for example, through private healthcare providers or the internet.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The patients were asked to provide information about their age, gender assigned at birth and whether they were on hormone treatment before being invited to complete a number of questionnaires.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The data was analysed and results showed that the patients not on hormone treatment were significantly more likely to report their need to be thin, coupled with bulimic behaviours.</p>.<p class="bodytext">This was also strongly connected to issues with body dissatisfaction, a preoccupation with perfectionism, the experience of trust issues in personal relationships and depression and anxiety.</p>
<p class="title">Hormone therapy may help reduce the feelings of body dissatisfaction associated with eating disorders including anorexia and bulimia in transgenders, a study has found.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Eating disorders including anorexia, bingeing, self- induced vomiting and the misuse of diet pills and laxatives have been linked to people's deep-seated unhappiness with their body, fuelled by Western society's obsession with an idealised image of beauty.</p>.<p class="bodytext">For some transgender people, striving to achieve a masculine or feminine body shape can influence their eating behaviours.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While in the case of transgender males (assigned female at birth but who identify as male) who are not on hormone treatment some may even restrict what they eat as a way of stopping menstruation.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Young transgender people may restrict their food as a way to control their puberty, stop their period or reduce the development of breasts," said Jon Arcelus, from the University of Nottingham in the UK.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Eating disorder professionals should consider the gender identity of the person when assessing a person with symptoms of eating disorders," Arcelus said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">For the study published in the journal European Eating Disorders Review, the researchers looked at more than 560 patients over the age of 17.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Just under 25 percent of the patients (139) had already started hormone treatment prior to the assessment, accessing the treatment through a range of avenues, for example, through private healthcare providers or the internet.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The patients were asked to provide information about their age, gender assigned at birth and whether they were on hormone treatment before being invited to complete a number of questionnaires.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The data was analysed and results showed that the patients not on hormone treatment were significantly more likely to report their need to be thin, coupled with bulimic behaviours.</p>.<p class="bodytext">This was also strongly connected to issues with body dissatisfaction, a preoccupation with perfectionism, the experience of trust issues in personal relationships and depression and anxiety.</p>