Pregorexia It is a term that is not part of the dictionary produced by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE ). However, its use is frequent to refer to a eating disorder that affects pregnant women .
The concept comes from the English language and is formed from the combination of pregnancy ("pregnancy" ) and anorexy . It is a badly suffered by pregnant women who, with the intention of conserving their weight, engage in practices that put their lives and the fetus's life at risk .
Pregorexia is a eating disorder which usually includes a mixture of binge-eating and purging, the excessive development of physical activity and the elimination of nutrients and calories from the diet . The person affected by this disorder pretends, in this way, to lose the kilos that increase naturally with pregnancy, a desire that affects your health and that of your child .
Among the possible consequences of pregorexia for the mother, bone decalcification, arrhythmias, arterial hypertension , low generation of breast milk, decrease in the amount of amniotic fluid and placental abruption. Pregorexia also increases the risk of premature delivery, complications in childbirth and mortality of the child before his first month of life.
Babies born to a mother who attended the pregnancy with pregorexia, meanwhile, they usually have low weight, respiratory failure and neurological problems. According to medical studies, these children register an IQ below average and cause physiological and emotional problems.
It is important to keep in mind that, although it is common for those who develop pregorexia to have faced other eating disorders before, also the disorder can be acquired without counting on background .
