Isabelle Caro Dies at 28: 5 Facts About Anorexia Nervosa

After a long battle with anorexia nervosa, 28-year-old French model Isabelle Caro has died.

Caro's fight with the eating disorder drew international attention from the fashion industry in 2007 when her startling billboard campaign, shot by photographer Oliviero Toscani and endorsed by the Italian Ministry of Health, ran during Milan's Fashion Week. The controversial photos, intended to draw attention to anorexia within the fashion industry, "proved controversial with designers."

Caro was one of the millions of people across the globe who suffer from the horrific disease.

In light of Caro's passing, Surge Desk offers five facts about anorexia.

1. Symptoms of anorexia
According to the National Eating Disorder Association, the four primary symptoms of anorexia nervosa are:

Resistance to maintaining normal body weight based on age and height
Intense fear of weight gain or becoming "fat" despite already unhealthy body weight
"Disturbance in the experience of body weight and shape"
Loss of menstrual periods in females

2. Men are affected as well
It's a common misconception that only women suffer from eating disorders. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, men account for one in 10 cases of the disorder, meaning that hundreds of thousands of males suffer from anorexia and related eating disorders.

3. Anorexia mortality rates are frighteningly high
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder, with anorexia nervosa holding a death rate 12 times higher than all other causes of death in females ages 15 to 24, according to the South Carolina Department of Mental Health.

4. Care for anorexia patients is expensive
The New York Times reported that the cost of care for anorexia patients can be as much as $30,000. Many patients require a team of specialists, including a psychiatrist, a physician and a nutritionist.

5. Anorexia treatment research is drastically underfunded
Although approximately 10 million anorexia cases exist in the United States alone, in 2005 the National Institutes of Health provided only $12 million in funding to help fight eating disorders, compared with the $647 million the NIH spent on Alzheimer's, which had 4.5 million cases, according to the National Eating Disorder Association.

Here is a clip from VH1's "The Price of Beauty" featuring Caro's struggle with anorexia.