(Image Source: ABC News ) BY CANDICE AVILES What is the first thing you think of when you hear “eating disorders?” For many, it’s often associated as a female disease. But new research from the Canadian Medical Association Journal shows 10 to 15 percent of people who suffer from anorexia or bulimia are, in fact, male. The Epoch Times goes on to mention this stigma may be the reason why men have a harder time getting help. “Although men have far more treatment options than a decade ago, they may not get diagnosed properly … with mythologies that exist around eating disorders it may not be the first thing that comes to mind, or even the second thing … for a doctor.” This problem may be larger than it seems to some. The National Eating Disorders website says in the U.S. “20 million women and 10 million men” suffer from an eating disorder including “anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, [or] binge eating.” A psychiatrist who spoke to ABC News mentions a few hurdles men face in overcoming the disease. “One of the big problems for men with anorexia is that they don’t always have the skeletal look associated with anorexia … so it takes longer for loved ones to realize there’s a problem and get help.” The psychiatrist adds doctors don’t always think to diagnose men with eating disorders and that men are less likely to seek help. One man, who had an eating disorder, told KIFI he was afraid to tell anyone. “I had the mentality that I was going through this... that I was weird because I’m going through it and that if I ever told anyone another guy that they would be like what’s wrong with you dude, what’s going on?” The Huffington Post notes the topic of anorexia and men, also known as “manorexia,” caught more attention after the Paris Fashion Week, where many of the models were distractingly thin. Studies show anorexia is triggered in both men and women by similar things like self-image and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. The Atlantic also points out there’s a lack of programs nationwide that specialize in helping men with eating disorders, adding the first step to helping more men with the disease is to put more treatment options out there.