Red canoffer hope by enabling access to support services to empower recovery

REDCAN agencies deliver early intervention, prevention and community support for people experiencing eating distress and eating disorders. We want people to have support as soon as possible and get well rapidly.

Charities work with people experiencing different kinds of eating distress and eating disorders. Depending on funding, services can be for children, young people or adults.

Specialist workers run groups and training for family members and friends, so they can support loved ones to recover. 

Our expert agencies work closely with local NHS eating disorder services, aiming for people to get the level of support or treatment they need.

REDCAN's charities work with a wider range of eating disorders than some local NHS services, such as binge eating disorder (BED) and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). 

Some charities provide specialist support for students at colleges and universities.

Finally, outreach and training staff go into schools, workplaces, universities, gyms and beyond to train others to prevent and respond appropriately to eating distress.

Specialist staff meet regularly through REDCAN forums to discuss clinical practice, common issues and new research.

We share data to understand who we are reaching with our support and demonstrate our collective impact. 

Agencies also collaborate on policy change to improve eating disorder services and support, making the case for embedding and funding the expert voluntary sector in the delivery of early intervention and prevention services. 

Early intervention should be the norm when someone starts to experience eating distress. But too many people get eating disorder treatment and support when they have become very unwell. It's much easier to recover from eating distress when you get help quickly. And eating disorders are considerably harder to treat the longer they go unaddressed.

Eating disorders are on the rise across the UK. NHS treatment services are under pressure. Large areas of the UK don't commission free or low cost early intervention eating disorder support, based in local communities. This leaves private therapy, which many can't afford.

Instead, specialist charities should be part of an all-ages, comprehensive pathway throughout the country of free and low cost eating disorders support and treatment. People could get well sooner, which in turn would alleviate pressure on NHS services. With partnerships between regional charities and the NHS, people can be met close to home with the level of support and treatment they need.

Australia’s national eating disorder strategy takes a joined-up approach to prevention and treatment, recognising that eating disorders are "everyone’s business". The UK could take a similar approach with a national strategy.

Eating distress describes any relationship with food, weight, shape or eating that someone finds distressing. 

An eating disorder describes an illness where people restrict, purge or binge food, almost always experiencing eating distress. Clinical professionals will use mental and physical health criteria to diagnose an eating disorder. However, some eating disorders will never be diagnosed formally. For example, not everyone will be seen by NHS services. Diagnostic criteria may not cover everyone's experiences. 

Disordered eating focuses on eating behaviour that suggests someone has a relationship to food, weight, shape and eating that they find distressing. 

All three touch on experiences which can include one or more of: persistent or intrusive thoughts about food or weight; having personal rules about food that make it hard to eat, whether in company or alone; not eating enough food to thrive; sensory experiences of food or fear of being sick that limits foods that feel acceptable to eat; episodes of not being able to stop eating; being sick, using laxatives or other medicine to get rid of food or keep weight down; compulsive exercise; urges to body check.

Some eating distress and eating disorders are linked to sensory experiences of food or fear of being sick, while others are focused on ideas around weight, health and body image. Some overlap.

Eating distress should always be taken seriously and met with support. Eating distress and disorders can have very serious mental and physical health consequences. Yet recovery is common and possible with the right support.

Many people with eating distress and eating disorders feel shame due to stigma and misinformation. They are never your fault.

Really common.

3.5 million people in the UK may have eating disorders, statisticians working with charity BEAT found this year (2026). That would be one in every 20 people, or about five per cent of the UK population. 

Other data suggests binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder, followed by OSFED (other specified feeding and eating disorder) and bulimia. Anorexia affects fewer than one in ten people with eating disorders, while much more research is needed on ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder).

Eating distress and disorders most often develop during adolescence, but can occur at any age. Girls and women are most commonly affected, but around one in five are boys and men. ARFID often develops much earlier.

Much more research is needed about some groups in relation to eating distress and eating disorders, including people on low-to-middle incomes, people from minoritised ethnic communities, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, autistic people and people with ADHD, women experiencing perimenopause and menopause, older adults, and migrants. 

Eating disorders develop for many reasons, influenced by genetic, psychological, social, and environmental factors. Eating distress and eating disorders may emerge during periods of change and transition, challenging circumstances, or in relation to traumatic experiences.

The biggest risk factor is being a woman or girl, although men make up between a fifth to a quarter of people with eating disorders. But eating distress and disorders show up in all groups in society. Eating disorders are under-diagnosed in groups facing social and financial structural injustices.

Diet culture, appearance pressures, experiences of discrimination, and inequalities all contribute. Not having enough food, or binging and/or purging food, may in turn affect brain chemistry, and produce or reinforce disordered thoughts and behaviour. Growing evidence suggests links between neurodivergence and eating disorders. 

Eating distress and eating disorders are varied in terms of symptoms and intensity, so support and treatment varies too. 

REDCAN charities provide support using well-evidenced approaches, tailored to needs and circumstances, such as talking and behavioural therapies, peer and family support, guided resources, and nutritional advice. Their support is for children, young people and adults with eating distress before they need the NHS, or after discharge. 

The NHS provides clinical care and treatment. For example, GPs will oversee clinical checks such as blood tests or ECGs. When an eating disorder meets the diagnostic threshold for medical intervention, specialist eating disorder teams will treat patients, with NICE guidelines providing recommended treatment for specific eating disorders.

REDCAN members work closely with the NHS, aiming for people to move smoothly to the right level of support or treatment. If people become very unwell, charities refer them to local NHS community eating disorder teams. And NHS teams can refer people to specialist charity teams working in the community.