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People with bulimia spend thousands of dollars a year in food and drugs such as laxatives and slimming pills, which used to be binge, according to the first study found that the direct cost to patients of feeding disorders.

The food is to be binge third of the total expenditure on food bulimic people, said team doctor Scott J. Crow, of the School of Medicine, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.


"The magnitude of these costs would not be complete in individuals with bulimia nervosa, in part because (...) would be relieved by the consumption of food purchased by others," wrote the authors.

While there are studies that have found the cost of treatment for bulimia, there are no published studies on what it spends on patients during their illness, Crow and his colleagues reported in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.


To investigate the issue, experts recruited 10 women who had been diagnosed with bulimia nervosa and were beginning treatment for the condition.

Participants reported all foods eaten in a week and indicated when purge or episodes that were considered binge. Also recorded the use of any pill, laxative or diuretic.


In one week, the women averaged 4.7 and 3.6 binge purges. Besides weekly spent on average $ 106.98 on food, which translates into $ 5581.79 per year.

Of that total, $ 30.65 per week or 1599.45 for the year were binge. That represented a 32.7 per cent of the total spent by the study participants in food.


Three of the participants said they had used pills, laxatives and diuretics and they spent an average of $ 4.54 per week or 236.99 per year.

Costs vary widely, according to investigators, a minimum of $ 367.85 a year to binge and purge, up to $ 3487.02 per year. It is not clear whether these differences were due to the entry of patients and the severity of their symptoms, the experts added.


According to the annual average income of American women 25 to 34 years in 2006, which was $ 30,316, the spending binge represented 5.3 percent of income before taxes, said the authors.

The costs are probably underestimated, given that these women were seeking treatment because the people who recorded their food intake often more closely monitor their eating behaviors, the team added.


Crow and his colleagues suggested that provide information on the costs of binge to patients with bulimia could help in their treatment.

"Future studies should continue to consider the monetary costs of the symptoms of food disorders, to provide accurate data for patients (...) and to better understand their financial burdens," concluded the team.