Dietary Timeline

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1859

The emergence of anorexia nervosa as a new disease.

"Dunglison's 1865 dictionary defined anorexia as 'absence of appetite'.Dunglison said simply: 'Anorexia or want of appetite is symptomatic of most diseases.'"

Chipley coined the term sitophobia in 1859 for food refusal. William Withey Gull adopted the term anorexia nervosa for those whose food refusal did not stem from any organic illness, but who were also not insane.
".he conceived of anorexia nervosa as a coherent disease entity distinct from starvation among the insane and unrelated to organic diseases such as tuberculosis, diabetes, or cancer. Furthermore, his disease had a very specific clientele: young women between the ages of sixteen and twenty-three."

Brumberg, J.J. (1988) Fasting Girls; The emergence of anorexia nervosa as a modern disease. Harvard University Press. USA.