London, Aug 22: The ongoing credit crunch is making increasing number of British men anorexic.

At least 10pct of men have been diagnosed with the eating disorder.

Professor Hubert Lacey, who runs the eating disorder unit at St George's Hospital in London, has seen the number of male referrals double in the past few years.

"These are just my observations and because the numbers are so small, statistics can be misleading but I think there has been a cultural change," Sky News quoted him as saying.

"The recession is a factor because when jobs are under threat, people think more about how they present themselves," he added.

Accoridng to 29-year-old Si, financial worries played a significant part in his eating disorder.

"When I was a student and struggled with money, it was almost a reason to not eat," he said.

"When I had rent to pay and things to buy for my course, it was all too easy to class food as low priority and do without altogether and use the lack of money as means of justifying/fuelling my anorexia," Si added.

Aaron, 31, developed an eating disorder when he felt stuck in a job he didn't like at all.

"My job contributed to a sense of purposelessness in life," he said.

Losing weight was a way of regaining the sense of self worth, improvement and achievement.

"Eventually I had to give up work, and recovery will always be tainted with the fear of having to do such an alienating and miserable job again," he added.

Another anorexic man, Sam (23) admits that men are reluctant to seek help.

"Typically, men are afraid to talk about such issues as they see it as a weakness and possibly threatening to their masculinity," he said.

"Not being able to express their emotions adds to the severity of the issues they face," he added.

ANI