How much body fat must one have to be anorexic?

When diagnosing a person for this particular condition, medical professionals are looking at more than just body fat. While body fat is important in determining how much a fat a person has compared to muscle, it does not indicate whether a person is anorexic or not.

Doctors look at the person’s weight and height in conjunction to their age and sex to determine whether they are underweight or overweight for their age. Usually, their body weight has to be somewhere less than around 15% of the normal weight for their age, sex and height.

A complete examination will include looking at the person’s body chemistry to determine, which vitamins and minerals are missing from the body. However, there are other symptoms of the disease, as the brittleness of the hair and nails are big indications that someone is suffering from anorexia. While it would be natural to make the connection between the two, body fat has little to do with whether a person is anorexic or not.