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An 18-year-old female student of Thalassery in Kerala died following the reports of sustaining herself on a ‘water diet’ for almost six months.
Sree Nanda, who hailed from Meruvambai, was being treated at Thalassery Co-operative Hospital for acute malnutrition resulting from anorexia nervosa—an eating disorder marked by morbid dread of weight gain and severe food restriction. Even after receiving medical treatment, she died from her illness on Sunday.
The Devastating Impact of Anorexia
Anorexia nervosa is a potentially life-threatening condition in which individuals become irrationally afraid of gaining weight and end up severely limiting their food intake. Even when they are perilously thin, they feel overweight and engage in severe dieting.
Physicians who were treating Sree Nanda announced that she had a weight of just 24 kg when she was admitted and was in critical condition. Consultant physician Dr. Nagesh Manohar Prabhu said her sugar levels, sodium, and blood pressure were critically low, and ventilator support was necessary. Sadly, her condition worsened, and she could not get recovered.
According to her family, Sree Nanda had been following online weight-loss trends, which influenced her to adopt a strict diet. She gradually stopped eating solid food altogether, hiding meals given by her family and consuming only hot water for months. Despite being taken to medical professionals multiple times, her condition worsened due to a lack of timely psychiatric intervention.
The case of Sree Nanda exposes the increasing impact of social media and diet trends online on adolescent minds. The rise in the extreme fitness culture and glamorization of ill-suited weight-reducing techniques have also led to a spate of eating disorders in adolescents.
Medical professionals caution that anorexia nervosa boasts one of the highest mortality rates of psychiatric conditions, with an 8-15% fatality rate. It not only causes severe weight loss but also impacts the brain, heart, and other vital organs. Researchers have found that anorexics have distorted brain reactions to food, linking food—particularly sugar—to weight gain, further consolidating their dread of consuming foods.
Physicians stress that eating disorders are more than just foods but highly psychologized states that necessitate professional help. Early detection, therapy, and family counseling help significantly to address conditions such as anorexia.
