"Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric illness that describes an eating disorder characterized by extremely low body weight and body image distortion with an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Individuals with anorexia are known to control body weight commonly through the means of voluntary starvation, excessive exercise, or other weight control measures such as diet pills or diuretic drugs. While the condition primarily affects adolescent females approximately 10% of people with the diagnosis are male. [1]. Anorexia nervosa, involving neurobiological, psychological, and sociological components[2], is a complex condition that can lead to death in the most severe cases.

The term anorexia is of Greek origin: a (α, prefix of negation), n (ν, link between two vowels) and orexis (ορεξις, appetite), thus meaning a lack of desire to eat.[3]

"Anorexia nervosa" is frequently shortened to "anorexia" in the popular media. This is technically incorrect, as the term "anorexia" used separately refers to the medical symptom of reduced appetite (which therefore is distinguishable from anorexia nervosa in being non-psychiatric)."

Copied straight from Wikipedia. w00t w00t.
Anyway, here are my personal thoughts:
So I think that Anorexia Nervosa is a really serious problem currently, especially in the US. People are really influenced by the media, and when people are bombarded by images of super skinny supermodels, they lack the self-esteem to love themselves the way they are (and they forget that the models are paid to look skinny). Of course, obesity is also a prevalent problem in the US, and it is important to strike a balance between the two extremes.

Also, just a note: I chose a female subject, but Anorexia nervosa is also becoming increasingly prominent in men, as well. I think the current statistic is 10% of all anorexics are men, but the number is rapidly rising.