ABSTRACT
Eating disorders in childhood and adolescence can be classified as follows. selective eating, anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, Obesity, food avoidance emotional disorder, functional dysphagia, pervasive refusal syndrome, the continuum from normal to abnormal and epidemiology and differential diagnosis. Eating disorders are mainly reported in cultures where food is plentiful and thinness is valued. Some mothers of children who display selective eating may have past or present eating disorders. Most children who display selective eating are physically normal. The importance of anorexia nervosa that starts before puberty is that it can permanently impair growth and ovarian development. The differential diagnosis of anorexia nervosa includes the following: Depressive disorder, Medical illness and Drug use. Genetic factors probably play at least as important a part as cultural and other environmental factors. There is some evidence of continuity between childhood and adult obesity, but this is not inevitable.
