Researchers are dismantling this myth about eating disorders

Eating disorders don’t only affect young, white women. A range of previously overlooked groups can be impacted, and treatments are finally being geared to them.

They kill more people each year than road crashes in some countries, but eating disorders remain widely misunderstood — even by health professionals.

Only one in 10 people in Australia can accurately recognise the signs of eating disorders; in India, one study found about a quarter of medical students can recognise the symptoms.

One pervasive myth is that eating disorders only affect young, white women from middle-class families. And while it’s true that women are a key group at high risk of these conditions, in reality eating disorders can affect anyone.

Men and boys make up a quarter of people with anorexia or bulimia — and some behaviours linked to eating disorders, including binge eating affect boys and men almost as much as girls and women.

Autistic people and those with ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions, of all genders, are also more likely to develop an eating disorder than neurotypical people.

People with medical conditions that affect appetite and digestion, such as diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease, have a higher chance of developing eating disorders.

Among women, those going through key transition periods — including pregnancy and menopause — are another vulnerable group. Some researchers, after establishing that menopause was associated with binge eating and orthorexia nervosa (an obsession with eating healthy food), have even suggested that doctors should screen for disordered eating during middle-aged women’s routine medical appointments.

In non-Western countries, where the prevalence of eating disorders has traditionally been lower than Western countries, that prevalence appears to be increasing.

Experts say the complex causes of eating disorders in non-Western countries (including India) are complex and deserve further study, but may relate to conflicting expectations women experience during significant social, political and economic changes around them.

Social media also plays a role in fuelling unhealthy beauty standards in many countries — including Indonesia, where 12 to 22 percent of adolescents and young women report difficulties in managing their food intake.

The good news is that recovery from eating disorders is possible. And with growing awareness of the different factors impacting the development of these conditions, experts are developing new treatments — including neurodiversity-affirming approaches, hormone patches and culturally-informed approaches to understanding and treating disordered eating.

Editors Note: In the story “Eating disorders” sent at: 10/06/2024 09:14.

This is a corrected repeat.