The CDC has warned that obesity numbers could be near 100% if something doesn’t change dramatically. Children as young as five and six are facing heart disease and diabetes related to their weight, some of them as much as fifty pounds or more over the suggested weight for their height and age. But, a new problem is starting to surface and may be just as serious if not as prevalent as obesity.

Eating disorders in children may not be as easy to spot in the general public, but for the families that are dealing with these issues, they are all too real and all too serious.

In the eating disorders treatment program at the Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado, a new addition has been added: a program aimed at children who are ages nine to eleven. And, in that program, boys are growing in numbers faster than girls of the same age, a trend that is shocking even the experts.

In the recent past, the average age for the onset of an eating disorder has been thirteen to seventeen, a time fraught with hormonal upsets and peer pressure, but now, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average age of eating disorder onset has dropped to nine to twelve and cases involving boys is now catching up with the numbers of girls.

In a survey of the National Eating Disorders Association, over forty percent of children in first to third grades wish that they were thinner while over twice as many kids age ten willingly admit that they are afraid of getting fat. Over half of all girls ages nine to ten only feel good about themselves when they are on a diet. The numbers for boys were all slightly lower, but not by much.

The number of normal and underweight children who are dieting or otherwise restricting their caloric intake is also on the rise according to the CDC. In a survey, just over sixteen percent of children ages 8-11 and nineteen percent of kids 12-15 were dieting despite the fact that they were at normal weights.

A number of new programs have opened or expanded to deal with the growing problems of younger and younger patients with eating disorders. And with the efforts to treat them expanding, there have also been a number of theories about why the number has suddenly exploded including society’s pressure to be thinner, peer pressure and latent obsessive compulsive tendencies.

Competitive sports might also play a role in eating disorders with some coaches telling their players that they would do better at their sport and may go farther if they were to lose “just a little bit of weight.”  That advice might be taken lightly by one child but may kick off a full blown eating disorder for another on the same team, especially those who are predisposed to a potential eating problem.