Laxatives and Eating Disorders
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Laxatives are a group of medications which can be used to relieve constipation.
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Some people with eating disorders get into the habit of taking laxatives because they
believe that this is an effective way of losing weight. In fact, laxatives do not lead to long
term weight loss. This is because they work on the lower end of the gut, causing diarrhoea
and fluid loss.
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They do not prevent you from absorbing the food you have eaten. Sometimes you can
appear to lose a little weight when you have taken laxatives but this is entirely due to loss
of body fluid (ie dehydration) there is no loss of body tissue mass, fat, protein or calories.
This means that any apparent weight loss will be reversed as soon as you are rehydrated.
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Some people get into the habit of taking laxatives because they “feel” as if they are
constipated or bloated. It is not unusual for people with eating disorders to ‘feel’
constipated but this does not necessarily mean that they actually are constipated. This is
because eating too little food or having long spells without eating food causes the process
of waste being pushed through the intestine to slow down.
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This can lead to feeling bloated but the problem is not constipation but poor eating habits
causing the processing of the gut to slow down. If you are taking enough food, fibre and
fluid, you are unlikely to be constipated and therefore do not need laxatives.
©Eating Disorders Network, South East Scotland. Version: June 2009 www.ednses.com. This material can be copied and distributed for clinical use.
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