ARFID, also known as Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, is a condition where one continues to fail to meet their nutritional needs. This is just one of the many eating disorders that can severely impact your daily life.
The main causes of ARFID are a lack of interest in eating food, avoiding certain foods due to sensory issues, or having anxiety about possible side effects when eating like choking or vomiting.
Another symptom of this disorder is not being able to distinguish hunger.
People who have ARFID often struggle to process the signals their body is giving them. This can lead to them forgetting to eat.
However, they can experience severe symptoms of hunger like experiencing weakness, shaking, headaches, and extreme pain.
Consistently not eating enough causes the body to adapt to the low calorie intake it is experiencing.
This condition has a very high death rate. Not being able to distinguish bodily needs is very harmful.
According to the authors Sahr Yazdani, Zachary Bloomberg, Rachel Klauber and Edwin Meresh from Springer Nature, “While the exact mortality rate for ARFID is not currently specifically known, one study of 1,885 individuals found that the mortality rates for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa were 4% and 3.9%.”
“Respectively, while the mortality rate for eating disorders not otherwise specified (including ARFID) was 5.2%.”
ARFID is nothing new, however many undiagnosed individuals with this disorder and symptoms that accompany it are often swept under the rug, not given the attention they need.
The author Caren Chesler from Scientific American, states that “wider recognition of the condition is partly driving the recent increase in cases.”
“Real-world data on ARFID cases are lacking, but some studies have reported a global prevalence ranging from 0.35 to 3 percent across all age groups.”
According to Scientific American, “Certain countries and regions report much higher numbers… for example, [a study in the Netherlands shows] that among 2,862 children… 6.4 percent had ARFID.”
People with ARFID tend to have co-occurring mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsion disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and attention-deflect hyperactive disorder (ADHD).
If you or someone you know may be struggling with this condition or any eating disorder at all, don’t be afraid to ask for help. The National Eating Disorder Association is a good resource to get information and get help for eating disorders you or someone else who is struggling. There are always treatment options and therapy. Please get the help you need.
