Preface

*Recent Updates in Eating Disorders* aims to raise recent relevant issues about eating disorders and obesity. We talk about an 'eating disorder society' insofar as it constitutes a constellation of eating behaviours and practices conducive to the development of these pathologies. During adolescence, the most vulnerable stage of life, this constellation facilitates the presence of risk situations which often neither the individuals nor their families are able to detect. It is important to be aware of behaviours that occur before the emergence of an eating disorder. While there are factors that facilitate the development of anorexia or bulimia nervosa, the other side of the coin is the problem of obesity, from childhood onwards, in all types of societies, whether more or less prosperous.

From a clinical perspective, it is important to bear in mind the epidemiological aspects of these disorders, and to consider their presence in males, which is not always well reflected in the literature. It is important to talk not only about diagnostic criteria but also about severity criteria and the presence of comorbidity, in order to establish better protocols for therapeutic action. Aspects such as exercise or the question of sexual orientation must be taken into account.

Another very relevant issue today is that different eating patterns can have a negative or positive influence on the development of eating disorders as well as overweight and obesity. Alterations in eating patterns clearly point to one disorder or the other. Sudden changes in eating habits, especially in adolescents, are often an indicator of the onset of an eating disorder.

Finally, we want to address the issue of social media networks and their influence on the development of eating disorders (and many other problems). As one of the authors rightly points out, social media are now a major socialisation factor in the lives of adolescents, who make intensive use of them to relate to each other and to the world. This has led to a great deal of scientific research on the influence of this medium of communication in many areas of the life and development of adolescents, especially on their physical and mental health. We review relevant psychological phenomena associated with the use of social networks in order to understand their influence on adolescent behaviour, recent research on the main psychosocial risk factors for problematic internet use by this age group and their possible relationship with eating disorders, and proposals adopted within the European Union and in Spain for the control of harmful content on the internet, especially that by apologists for anorexia and bulimia, which until very recently escaped any possibility of control despite their importance for public health. The potential of technology to implement adequate controls is discussed, and a research project is presented for the detection and neutralisation of eating disorder apologist postings on Twitter, financed and implemented by the APE Foundation with the collaboration of the University of Zaragoza, Spain.

While this work is neither exhaustive nor extensive, we nevertheless hope it will be of interest and will open up further lines of study and research in the near future.

> **Ignacio Jáuregui-Lobera** Pablo de Olavide University, Sevilla, Spain

### **José Vicente Martínez-Quiñones**

Hospital MAZ, Zaragoza, Spain

**1**

Section 1

Epidemiology
