Anorexia nervosa causes a loss of lung tissue, resulting in changes that resemble emphysema, according to a new report. “One of the problems with emphysema is that it is a complicated disease, and no one knows how it starts -- why so many people can smoke but only a small percentage get emphysema,” lead author Dr. Harvey O. Coxson said in an interview with Reuters Health. He believes that the findings in people with anorexia will help uncover the underlying cause of emphysema. Emphysema was first observed as a consequence of chronic malnutrition in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, Coxson and his colleagues point out in the October 1st American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
