Defensive vomiting is a symptom of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in which a person who has drastically over-eaten (generally in reaction to previous extreme dieting) vomits as a reaction to an excess of food which the body is not prepared to handle.

Defensive vomiting can also refer to a tactic used by some animals. In the presence of a threat, they vomit towards the threat, thus possibly distracting a predator and perhaps obscuring their scent.

See also

• Sea cucumbers -- can vomit its internal organs as a defense, then regrow them.
• Turkey Vultures -- produce foul-smelling vomit if attacked by predators in order to deter attack.

External links

• article on anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa by Arthur H. Crisp from the Somerset & Wessex Eating Disorders Association site (SWEDA)
• "A tale of corruption" by Arthur H. Crisp, MD, from The British Journal of Psychiatry (2002) 180: 480-482
• "Scary Scavengers" By Sheryl Smith-Rodgers Defensive vomiting by vultures, from Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine, October 2005
• "The clinical features of late onset anorexia nervosa." by Joughin NA, Crisp AH, Gowers SG, and Bhat AV from Postgrad Med J. 1991 Nov;67(793):973-7.