Eating is an integral part of our survival: we cannot live without it. It is not only a physical act, as when a car tank is filled with fuel to provide physical energy. It also has significant psychological and social roles and meanings. Thus, when problems with eating arise, the underlying issues and significance of these problems tend to be multifaceted and complicated.
Unfortunately, hand in hand with the cultural changes we are seeing across Europe, we are living a new epidemic: the significant increase of eating disorders. These disorders are presented as two extremes of the same spectrum.
On one hand, the loss of healthy eating habits have led to a sharp increase in obesity, including morbid obesity, which results in very serious medical problems.
On the other hand, there is the other extreme, propelled mostly by the media’s portrayal of the perfect body being the thinnest possible, where individuals, mostly females, starve themselves and go to extreme measures not to have an ounce of fat anywhere in their body. This leads to conditions called bulimia and anorexia.
Both these extremes can result in very serious medical problems that can also be a cause of death. Anorexia has a shocking 15 per cent mortality. They also have immense psychological comorbidity.
Up to 80 per cent of people with some sort of eating disorder suffer from depression. Fifty per cent of those suffering from bulimia or anorexia suffer from substance abuse. Another 80 per cent suffer from social phobia or panic disorder and 50 per cent suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder.
Up to 80 per cent of people with some sort of eating disorder suffer from depression
The suffering is not present in these unlucky individuals only but whole families and people close to them feel devastated and mostly helpless.
Unfortunately, Malta was not spared from this epidemic. International surveys have repeatedly shown us to be in the unenviable position of being world champions in the rate of obesity in our population, especially children.
Regarding anorexia and bulimia, until recently, the general impression was that they were on the increase but we did not have hard data. A couple of years ago, President Emeritus George Abela, especially following a visit he made to a treatment centre of eating disorders in Italy during a State visit, saw the potential of focusing the efforts of the Malta Community Chest Fund also on these conditions. This led to a very interesting and fruitful collaborative project between the MCCF and the Department of Health: a foundation called Fondazzjoni Kenn Għal Saħħtek.
The start was a scientifically rigorous epidemiological study on the extent of the problem in Malta. The next major step was the development of a former derelict hospital at Mtarfa into a very modern and state-of-the-art treatment centre. This centre is divided into two main areas, one catering for patients with morbid obesity and the other for patients with anorexia or bulimia.
Treatment provided is multidisciplinary, with the involvement of psychiatrists, physicians, nurses, dieticians, nutritionists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. So far, 436 patients have received residential treatment. We have waiting lists of patients to be admitted and we are in the process of developing new services.
We are also keeping alive the academic activities. At present, we have an ongoing research project in collaboration with the University of Cambridge and we hold teaching seminars of these conditions. The next seminar is a half day event on January 29, intended for medical practitioners.
We are very happy with the results that Fondazzjoni Kenn Għal Saħħtek had so far but we do not intend to sit on our laurels.