Binge eating disorder is more common than the bulimia and anorexia nervosa according to scientists. According to a report by The Conversation, it can affect hundreds of thousands of Australians in their lifetime.
Binge Eating Disorder in Australia
According to the Science Direct, 2% of males and 3.5% of women will experience binge eating disorder at some point in their lives. Over 600,000 Australians could be impacted by this in their lifetimes. On the other hand, that may indicate that over 130,000 people in New Zealand have this specific eating disorder.
The National Eating Disorders Collaboration estimates that one million Australians, or 4% of the population, are now struggling with an eating disorder. On the other hand, 3% of people with eating disorders have anorexia nervosa, 12% have bulimia nervosa, 47% have binge eating disorder (BED), and 38% have another eating disorder.
In addition to behaviors that do not fulfill the criteria for an eating disorder, these disordered eating patterns may also involve binge eating, strict dieting, vomiting, and the use of laxatives. In any given year, around a third (31.6%) of Australian adolescent girls and boys participate in disordered eating behaviors.
The frequency of at least weekly binge eating has increased by almost six times since the late 1990s, and the frequency of tight dieting has increased by almost four times4 as well as other behavioral and cognitive eating disorder indicators.
More People Suffer from Binge Eating Disorder Than from Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the two eating disorders that most people will think of when they hear the word "eating disorder." They might not be aware of the fact that binge eating disorder is more prevalent than the other two disorders put together and that it can considerably lower quality of life.
Binge eating refers to a pattern of behavior that frequently involves losing control, eating excessive amounts of food, and then experiencing shame and guilt as a result. This is different from simply overeating, which most individuals will experience occasionally.
People with binge eating disorder are underrepresented in studies on eating disorders, as a new international study project discovered, which restricts the ability of researchers to create treatments.
Failure of Recognizing Binge Eating Disorder
Patients frequently fail to tell their doctor about their binge eating symptoms, therefore treatments frequently concentrate on weight loss and other health issues associated with binge eating rather than the eating disorder that underlies the behavior.
Cognitive behavioral therapy, antidepressants, and, in some countries, the medicine lisdexamfetamine, the only treatment for the illness to date, are currently used to treat individuals with binge eating disorders.
To reduce the current stigma and shed light on the motivations behind the behavior, it is imperative to raise awareness of binge eating as a common and sometimes fatal eating disorder.
Warning Signs of Binge Eating Disorder
The US National Library of Medicine states that there are diagnostic standards for binge eating disorder. One of these criteria is the recurring episodes of binge eating. It is characterized by eating more food in a short period of time than the majority of individuals would under comparable conditions and losing control of one's appetite while doing so.
Other criteria that show signs of binge eating are eating more quickly than usual, overeating, eating a lot of food when not physically hungry, eating alone out of embarrassment, and feeling disgusted, depressed, or very guilty afterwards.
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