Reacción a "Reactions to study estimating that 22% of the world's children have disordered eating behaviours "

It is so important to see research like this being conducted. For those of us working in the field of adolescent eating disorders and mental health in Australia, the 22% proportion of children and adolescents with disordered eating is highly concerning, but sadly not surprising. We have been seeing an increase in presentations of younger and younger children with eating disorders at clinical services and this has been exacerbated by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The majority of the studies included in this review were published prior to the start of the pandemic and so the 22% may potentially be an underestimate of the current situation in 2023. The finding that girls were more likely to be impacted than boys is also not unexpected, however, the ~17% proportion in boys should not be ignored. Anyone of any gender can experience disordered eating. The study showed that children with a higher BMI were seemingly more at risk of developing disordered eating. It is possible that these young people faced discrimination or stigma based on their weight from important people in their lives, and so were engaging in disordered eating to try to lose weight. Weight stigma needs to stop being perpetuated at every level!