Rex
Figures from NHS trusts have revealed that 167 boys under 18 were given emergency hospital treatment between 2007 and 2011 for anorexia.
The figures are a 65 per cent increase from those of the previous five years. Then, 101 young boys had been treated in hospital for the disease.
Shockingly, one little boy of just SIX, and two eight year olds and two nine year olds were among those treated for the condition.
There has also been an increase in the number of young girls being hospitalised with anorexia. Between 2002 and 2002, there were 1,192 cases. From 2007 to 2011 this rose by 39 per cent to 1,662.
The Sun, which obtained the figures through a freedom of information request, say that the actual figure could be much higher, as 31 of the NHS trusts they approached either did not hold the data or declined to divulge it.
The newspaper quotes one teenage boy who says his weight fell to a shocking 4 1/2 stone and started to destroy itself, leaving doctors of the opinion he had only two days left to live unless he started eating.
Such shocking figures - do you think there needs to be more awareness of anorexia in young boys?