Unreported sauna use in anorexia nervosa: evidence from the world-wide-web.

Weight loss methods employed in anorexia nervosa (AN) are vomiting, laxatives, diuretics, enemas, suppositories, ipecac, weight loss medications and inadequate insulin in diabetics. Some methods result in weight loss from fluid depletion and not a reduction in body fat. Sauna use causes rapid fluid loss, but has not been reported in the medical literature as a weight loss strategy used in AN. We found reports of sauna use in AN on the world-wide-web are rare. We hypothesize that the warming caused by the use of sauna, may result in physical improvement in AN and thereby reduce its acceptability as a weight loss strategy.