An eating disorder is characterized by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and emotional health. The causes of eating disorders are complex and not yet fully understood. Eating disorders are estimated to affect 5-10 million females and 1 million males in the United States. Although not yet classified as separate disorder, binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the United States affecting 3.5% of females and 2% of males according to a study by Harvard affiliated McLean Hospital. Bulimia nervosa was the second most common followed by Anorexia nervosa.
Anorexia and bulimia are not just the preserve of teenage girls but are on the increase among older women too. With seemingly successful and settled lives, Jane, Tracey and Georgia are battling with their food and eating behind closed doors, as they struggle with the fallout from their eating disorders. Acclaimed BBC Documentary.
There are varying estimates as to the prognosis of individual eating disorders as the criteria used to arrive at the respective conclusions vary. With increasing knowledge as to the causes of individual eating disorders and which treatment options prove to be the most efficacious, the remission rates and ultimately full recovery rates rise.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Eating disorders" All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Wikipedia® itself is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.