REDCAN can help you find support

Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that affect your thoughts and behaviours around food and eating. Eating disorders can have physical consequences, and sometimes lead to very serious physical illness.

The hopeful news is that recovery is not just possible but common. We often only hear about eating disorders that have become physically dangerous. But eating disorders show up earlier: for example, when some people feel distress around food, eating, weight, or shape. Or it can be when the ways people eat or exercise stop them from taking part in everyday activities.

The sorts of behaviour and thoughts in an eating disorder could include: restricting food; eating large amounts of food without being able to stop; being sick or using laxatives to get rid of food; an uncontrollable need to exercise; not being able to stop thinking about or checking body or weight.

Some eating disorders are linked with the sensory ways particular foods taste or feel to people, or fears of being sick. Others focus on weight or body image. People with eating disorders are often ashamed of these thoughts and behaviour. This is not a surprise as eating disorders are often stigmatised and misrepresented in the UK, like many mental illnesses. Having an eating disorder is never your fault.

In short, really common. It is difficult to estimate how many people in the UK have an eating disorder, but BEAT's most recent figures suggest around 1.25-3.4 million people. At the very least, that's more than one in every seventy people. Another study in 2023 found more than one in five children and adolescents in England showed some form of disordered eating, jumping to nearly one in three adults.

It is thought that binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder, followed by 'other specified feeding and eating disorder' (OSFED) and bulimia. Anorexia is estimated to affect fewer than one in ten people with eating disorders. Further data is needed on how many people have avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID).

While adolescence is the most common time that eating disorders begin, they can develop earlier and later. Girls and women form the large majority of those who experience an eating disorder, but boys and men also experience them, making up around one in five of all affected.

We'd like to see more research about the experiences of those who might be at particular risk: people living on low to middle incomes; people from minoritised ethnic communities; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; disabled people; neurodivergent people; older people; people who migrated to the UK.

Eating disorders happen for lots of reasons. Genetics often plays a major role. Eating disorders may emerge during big changes in people's lives or when they are dealing with difficult emotions. Experiencing trauma can be a factor.

More broadly, diet culture and appearance pressures are everywhere in modern life, making people feel worse about themselves and their bodies, and often providing poor nutritional guidance. Experiencing inequalities, discrimination and prejudice may contribute. Restricting food can disrupt key metabolic processes and alter brain chemistry, producing or reinforcing disordered thinking and behaviour. And people are beginning to learn more about the links between neurodivergence and eating disorders. The particular factors, and how they combine, are different for each person.

Below, you'll find some descriptions of some recognised eating disorders.

However, people do not always neatly fit into medical categories. The 'diagnostic threshold' for NHS eating disorder services (the criteria that need to be met) is high.

Some experience 'eating distress' - a relationship with food, weight, shape or eating that someone finds distressing. 'Disordered eating' is sometimes used to describe struggles with eating thoughts and behaviours that don't fit diagnostic categories. A 'subclinical eating disorder' is a medical term for when a disorder doesn't reach the threshold for NHS treatment. Some also argue that there are other eating disorders that have not been defined yet.

Diagnosis or not: if someone is struggling with thoughts and/or behaviour around food, weight, eating or shape, it needs to be taken seriously. People should be able to reach out for support at any point.

Anorexia Nervosa: People significantly restrict their food intake, and sometimes feel compelled to exercise a lot to avoid putting on weight. People have an intense fear of gaining weight.

Bulimia Nervosa: people may have periods where they eat a lot of food without feeling that they are in control (binge eating), followed by an attempt to get rid of the food, by being sick or restricting their food or by using laxatives. There is an intense fear of weight gain.

Binge Eating Disorder: people have episodes of eating a lot of food without feeling they are in control (binge eating) followed by intense feelings of shame and guilt. People can also feel very preoccupied with weight and body shape.

Other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED): an eating disorder that has a mix of eating disorder symptoms with different patterns to other diagnoses.

ARFID – Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder; people avoid food or food types. This leads to malnutrition or prevents them from involvement in everyday activities. ARFID is often linked to negative sensory experiences of particular tastes, food groups or textures, or may arise after unpleasant prior experiences with food (such as being ill from food poisoning or vomiting). There is emerging evidence of a relationship between autism and ARFID, and ADHD and ARFID.

Experience of an eating disorder will differ from one person to the next, so REDCAN agencies take a person-centred approach to treatment. Professional talking therapies, peer and family groups, guided resources and nutritional support may all play a part. The type, frequency and combination of support varies, depending on individual circumstances. Some treatments may work best for particular eating disorders.

What is needed at one stage often changes over time. Early intervention may look different to supporting someone after discharge from NHS care. Other factors in people's lives are important in plans for eating disorder recovery: other physical and mental health conditions; disability and neurodivergence; social and economic injustice and discrimination; home and local environments; families, work and school; culture and community.

In addition, the staff members at REDCAN agencies have a valuable mix of lived and professional experience of eating disorders, with deep insight into and knowledge of recovery.

At the moment, the UK is seeing rising levels of eating disorders, but needs are not being met. More people are seeking support with more complexity than ever before. The current system is under strain and failing to meet this demand, especially for people without without a formal diagnosis or people who face social injustice or marginalisation. We know that if eating disorders are not treated early, recovery typically takes longer, disorders become more serious and treatment becomes more difficult.

There is an unacceptable postcode lottery for treatment. There are significant gaps across the country where agencies are not commissioned to offer free or low cost, community-based support for people who do not meet the high clinical thresholds for NHS services. Treatment by private providers is not affordable for the majority of people with an eating disorder.

That's why we want to see services like ours commissioned across the UK, with stable funding to work on prevention and early intervention. Despite our critical role and proven impact, REDCAN agencies face uncertain funding. Where we work with the NHS, we reduce pressure and costs for them. In some areas, REDCAN agencies provide services for a wider range of eating disorders than the NHS. But our support can remain vulnerable due to short term and inconsistent contracts.

Cultural stereotypes and systemic barriers mean many people — particularly those from global majority, neurodivergent, disabled, LGBTQ+, less financially well-resourced or older groups — are overlooked and underserved. We all need to make sure no-one misses out on eating disorder support by raising awareness about all eating disorders and all the diverse people who experience them. In Australia a national eating disorder strategy has been launched, joining the dots on treatment and prevention across services. Eating disorders there are 'everyone's business' and we can do the same here in the UK. To do this, we also need much more systematic and innovative research and data on eating disorders.