Gender differences in eating disorders may keep men from being properly diagnosed and treated. What may look extremely athletic may actually be tearing a man apart.

The image of "obesity" often conjures up people who can barely fit through a doorway or who always require two airline seats.

Obesity levels are at all-time highs in the United States and also in places like Mexico, an ominous development for a world awash in calories. Gradually, scientists are making incremental gains in understanding how brain hormones are related to dysfunctional appetite. The identification of hunger-regulating hormones like leptin and ghrelin are expanding the science of expanding waistlines. Yet hunger and overeating are not simple functions of body chemistry. They involve behavior, genes, attitudes, upbringing, socialization, emotions and environmental stimuli as well. Intense life c...

Teenage girls who feel depressed are twice as likely to exhibit binge eating disorder than other girls. Conversely, girls who regularly binge eat have double the risk of depression.