Health
Little-known eating disorder nearly starved a 9-year-old: 'It was tormenting her'
Of the list of eating disorders, ARFID might not be one that you recognize – but it can be just as dangerous as the better-known conditions.
ARFID, or Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, is defined by the Cleveland Clinic as a condition that limits a person’s food intake. It is recognized in the DSM-5 (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses by the American Psychiatric Association).
The disorder is marked by intense fear and anxiety about food and its specific qualities – like smell, taste and texture – or the consequences of eating, such as choking.
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Limiting food intake at an extreme level can lead to malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies, which 9-year-old Hannah of Los Angeles has experienced.
Hannah and her mom, Michelle, (who chose not to disclose their last name) sat down for an interview with Fox News Digital to discuss their journey with ARFID, which has included a prominent social media presence.
On Instagram, the duo has 1.5 million followers. Their TikTok account (@myarfidlife), features videos of Hannah bravely trying new foods, which have reached millions of views among nearly 460,000 followers.
Long before Hannah began sharing her journey on camera, Michelle struggled with what she thought was just a “picky eater.”
“I realized this was way more than just picky eating. This was obviously tormenting her.”
Michelle explained that Hannah, who is the youngest of three, was a “great eater” as a baby — until she was introduced to solid foods.
“She would protest, and she would spit the food out, or she would swat it out of my hand, or she would turn her head in the other direction,” she said — all “pretty common” behaviors among kids.
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But by the time Hannah turned 3, Michelle said she had started refusing even the select foods she once ate.
“It was very frustrating for us because she was already so limited as to what she was willing to eat,” she said.
Michelle, pictured here with her husband and three children, noted that Hannah’s case looked “very different” from her oldest son, who is autistic and had a hard time eating as a newborn. (@myarfidlife)
Since Hannah was still growing normally, her doctors “weren’t too concerned,” and assumed she’d grow out of the picky eating.
After COVID-19 hit, Michelle said Hannah’s eating took a turn for the worse, and she eliminated even more food.
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“It was a big struggle to get her to eat anything at all,” she said. “She had no interest in food whatsoever, and her growth started to slow down.”
Hannah’s doctors ran tests to see if there was another health condition, such as IBS or celiac disease. She was referred to other specialists, from endocrinologists to nutritionists.
Hannah was also seeing a feeding therapist, which caused “a lot of stress and anxiety,” her mother noted.
Hannah, pictured with her mom Michelle, shared that she likes to draw, read and write, and play with slime. (@myarfidlife)
The doctors instructed Michelle to continue offering Hannah food when she was hungry, but her daughter’s condition only worsened.
“She couldn’t handle being around food,” she said. “She couldn’t handle sitting at the dinner table with us. She couldn’t handle the smell when I was cooking something in the kitchen.”
As Hannah got older, she didn’t grow out of the condition, but was able to verbalize her internal struggle.
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“We were in a drive-thru and I asked [Hannah], ‘What would you like me to order?’ And she broke down at that moment and asked me, ‘Why is it that every time you talk about food, it makes me really anxious?’” Michelle recalled.
“Hearing those words … I realized that this was way more than just picky eating. This was obviously tormenting her.”
Seeking help and ‘validation’
Michelle decided to seek help from a mental health care professional and found a therapist who specialized in ARFID. She said their first conversation was “so validating.”
“I remember saying to her, ‘She has very few foods that she’s willing to eat. And one of the foods is sour cream and onion Pringles, but they have to be in a special packaging. She refuses to eat the Pringles that come in the large container. They have to come in the individual small containers.’”
“And hearing the words from her — ‘This is so classic of ARFID’ — was so validating.”
The “psycho-social interference” of ARFID can be difficult in social settings, like at school and parties, according to an eating disorder expert. Hannah, pictured with her brothers, is living with the condition. (@myarfidlife)
The therapist first recommended nutritional protein shakes, which were difficult for Hannah to stomach.
But Hannah, who was dangerously underweight, told her mother, “I don’t want to live like this anymore.”
“She was at risk of needing a feeding tube,” Michelle told Fox News Digital. “She fell off the growth chart and wasn’t gaining weight. She wasn’t growing in height.”
“I don’t want to live like this anymore.”
“She just wasn’t getting the nutrition she needed. She was very weak, lethargic and sleeping a lot.”
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Michelle tried fun ways to get Hannah to drink the shakes, like timing her and seeing if she could beat her previous record.
Next, Michelle suggested taking a video of Hannah drinking her shake to send to her new therapist.
Hannah was immediately interested in how her therapist would respond.
Hannah says her famous tagline, “Here I go,” before taking a bite of food in her videos. (TikTok/@myarfidlife)
Michelle then decided to share the video online to help clue in friends and family about what Hannah was dealing with, and to help explain why she wasn’t able to attend holidays or birthday parties due to the presence of food.
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Since that first post, Hannah and Michelle’s social media following has skyrocketed, with thousands of strangers cheering on and motivating Hannah.
“Hannah’s grown so much physically and emotionally. Her confidence has soared,” Michelle said. “She’s a completely different kid.”
“There’s curiosity and motivation and excitement — definitely still a lot of anxiety, but she’s working through it.”
Hannah and Michelle are pictured wearing “Here I Go” T-shirts, which are on sale to help promote ARFID awareness. (@myarfidlife)
Now 9, Hannah is using her platform to spread ARFID awareness and share tips she learns in therapy.
“Many people since we started our page have discovered that this is what they’ve dealt with their whole life,” Michelle said.
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“It’s just really nice to meet other people who can understand each other and share stories.”
Hannah added that the encouragement she gets online helps motivate her to try new foods.
“It makes me really happy because I know I’m helping other people,” she told Fox News Digital. “And I’m also helping myself, too.”
Hannah shared that she feels proud of her continuous bravery.
“I feel good,” she said. “I’m really energetic today.”
Tips for overcoming ARFID
During her sessions, Hannah undergoes exposure therapy as well as talk therapy.
“We do breathing exercises and coping skills,” she said. “We also try different foods.”
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Taylor Rae Homesley, executive director of The Emily Program’s Atlanta-based Eating Disorder Treatment Center, works with ARFID patients.
She shared more details on the condition in an interview with Fox News Digital.
While symptoms may vary, limited food intake based on texture or food group, is a standout sign, one expert said. (iStock)
Since ARFID was coined as a “new term to describe something that’s existed for a long time,” Homesley said it has brought more awareness to the condition and how best to treat it.
There are three types of ARFID symptoms that parents should look for in their children, according to Homesley.
1. Fear of consequences
“I’m afraid I’m going to throw up, I’m afraid I’m going to get a stomachache, I’m afraid I’m going to choke,” the expert listed as examples.
2. Lack of interest in eating or food
“These are kids and adults who just aren’t motivated by food,” she said.
“They’re the ones who may be playing outside for hours and hours and don’t think, ‘It’s time to eat now.’”
3. Avoidance of food based on sensory characteristics
“These are the kids and adults who are super limited in what they’re eating due to those sensory things,” Homesley said.
“They may have aversions to taste, texture, smell or temperature of food.”
“[ARFID] needs to be treated differently and recognized as a different eating disorder,” one specialist said. (iStock)
“A lot of our patients with ARFID are what we consider super tasters,” the therapist added. “They taste bitter flavors at a higher intensity than the rest of us.”
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Treatment is still being developed for ARFID, but methods like cognitive behavioral therapy have proven helpful, according to Homesley.
Michelle noted that ARFID needs “a lot more awareness” and community building, which led her to start the ARFID Awareness nonprofit.
“Help is not readily available, and it’s very unfortunate because ARFID is lifelong, and it’s something that does require treatment,” she said.
“I feel like bringing community together and using our voices [is important] so that people see there’s a need.”
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A new injectable therapy is showing positive results in reducing melanoma throughout a five-year period.
The personalized mRNA cancer therapy, called intismeran autogene, combined with the cancer immunotherapy drug KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), is a collaboration between Merck and Moderna.
The results from the phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 27.
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After about a five-year follow-up, the combo drug was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone.
The researchers analyzed data from 157 patients with high-risk stage 3 and 4 melanoma whose cancer had been removed via surgery. The participants were split into two groups — one received the combo therapy and the other only received pembrolizumab, according to a press release.
The therapy was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone after a five-year follow-up. (iStock)
The findings revealed that the combination group saw benefits that were “sustained and durable over time.”
Intismeran autogene is designed using mutations identified in a patient’s own tumor, with the intention of teaching the immune system what the cancer looks like so that it can recognize and attack it.
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According to the researchers, intismeran is “well-tolerated” with a “manageable” safety profile.
The most commonly cited side effects of the personalized mRNA vaccine plus KEYTRUDA were fatigue, injection-site pain, chills, fever and headache. The researchers reported no new long-term safety concerns and no severe vaccine-related adverse events.
The combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study — the final confirmation stage.
Patients with late-stage melanoma have a “significant risk” of cancer recurrence, according to an expert. (iStock)
In a Merck press release from January, Kyle Holen, MD, Moderna’s senior vice president and head of development, oncology and therapeutics, noted that this data highlights the “potential of a prolonged benefit … in patients with resected high-risk melanoma.”
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“We continue to invest in our platform in oncology because of encouraging outcomes like these, which illustrate mRNA’s potential in cancer care,” he said.
Dr. Marjorie Green, senior vice president and head of oncology, global clinical development at Merck Research Laboratories, also commented that for many patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma, there is a “significant risk of recurrence following surgery.”
Researchers confirmed that the combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study. (iStock)
“As such, demonstrating the longer-term potential of intismeran autogene and KEYTRUDA to reduce the risk of recurrence for certain patients with melanoma is a meaningful milestone,” she said.
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The company cited encouraging five-year follow-up data and pointed to upcoming late-stage INTerpath trial results with Moderna in several hard-to-treat cancers.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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