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Just like a teenage anorexic, Laura would say that she was full, not hungry, or feeling sick. These symptoms, the classic symptoms of a sufferer, were not picked up on by her caring friends and family. Even her GP did not notice anything until it was too late.

The granddaughter of an 86-year-old woman who died in March from anorexia tells me: "The family thought, like everyone, that anorexia only occurs in teenage girls. I even had a spurt of anorexia in my teens, and certainly didn't recognise the same signs in my grandmother.

"We were informed by her doctor, whom she had been seeing regularly for many years - on his final house call - that she had the eating disorder."

We believe that the main cause for anorexia in teenagers is poor self-image - that the disease revolves around perceptions of the body. It's thought that the reasons why an elderly person may suffer from the same eating disorder can range from the emotional to physical or financial reasons.
Typical causes may include depression, a lack of enthusiasm for life, a form of protest, an attempt to attract attention from friends and family members, medication (which can affect the appetite), and economic hardship.
Of course, wasting illnesses such as cancer can cause a loss of appetite, and, anyway, as we get older the appetite decreases. The capacity to taste and smell food declines. False teeth may make eating more difficult.

A spokesman for the British Nutrition Foundation says: "As a person gets older, they tend to eat less because they become less active and there is a fall in their basal metabolic rate, the energy needed for processes such as breathing and digesting food.

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