One in every 10 children and adolescents interviewed in Porto Alegre and São Paulo presented some form of disordered eating behavior (DEB), which includes binge eating or dieting, skipping meals, inducing vomiting, or taking laxatives without medical supervision; these behaviors can lead to loss of attention, depression, anxiety, weight gain, or more serious eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia. Using personal interviews, researchers from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), the University of São Paulo (USP), the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), and the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) revealed the eating habits of 2,511 children from 57 schools in the Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo state capitals in 2010 and then again after three and six years. The frequency of DEB was 12.1% in the first year, 9.8% after three years, and 12% after six years. The figures are lower than the average prevalence of 20% recorded in other countries, probably because they included younger participants and eating problems become more common in adolescence. Women are more likely to adopt strict diets or fasting (Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, February).
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