What are eating disorders?

Also known as: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, pica, rumination disorder, “Other/Unspecified feeding or Eating Disorder”.

The term “eating disorder” refers to a variety of persistent and different eating or eating related behaviors that result in a change in the way a child/adolescent/young adult consumes or absorbs food and which significantly causes poorer physical and psychosocial functioning.

They relate to attitudes about foods, eating, weight and body image and can overlap in presentation (e.g. alternate between anorexia and bulimia). They can involve either eating too much, not eating enough or eating the wrong things. They can have serious health consequence in many instances.


Reviewed by: Jack Wolfsdorf, MD, FAAP

This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM

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