Statistics

Despite its prevalence, there is inadequate research funding for eating disorders. Funding for eating disorders research is approximately 75% less than that for Alzheimer’s disease. In the year 2005, the National Institute of Health (NIH) funded the following disorders accordingly (the reported research funds are for anorexia nervosa only. No estimated funding is reported for bulimia nervosa or eating disorders not otherwise specified.):

Illness	Prevalence	Research Funds
Eating disorders	10 million	$12,000,000
Alzheimer’s disease	4.5 million	$647,000,000
Schizophrenia	2.2 million	$350,000,000

 

For females between fifteen to twenty-four years old who suffer from anorexia nervosa, the mortality rate associated with the illness is twelve times higher than the death rate of ALL other causes of death (Sullivan, 1995).

Anorexia nervosa has the highest premature fatality rate of any mental illness (Sullivan, 1995).

The incidence of bulimia in 10-39 year old women TRIPLED between 1988 and 1993.

Only one-third of people with anorexia in the community receive mental health care.

Only 6% of people with bulimia receive mental health care.

Four out of ten Americans either suffered or have known someone who has suffered from an eating disorder.

42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner (Collins, 1991).

81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat (Mellin et al., 1991).

The average American woman is 5’4" tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5’11" tall and weighs 117 pounds.

Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women (Smolak, 1996).

51% of 9 and 10 year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet (Mellin et al., 1991).

46% of 9-11 year-olds are "sometimes" or "very often" on diets, and

82% of their families are "sometimes" or "very often" on diets (Gustafson-Larson & Terry, 1992).

91% of women recently surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, 22% dieted "often" or "always" (Kurth et al., 1995).

47% of 6-year-old girls said they wanted to be slimmer, because it would make them more popular.
[Dohnt, Hayley K.; Tiggemann, Marika. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, Volume 23, Number 1, March 2005, pp. 103-116(14). British Psychological Society]

Eating disorders are now the third most common chronic illness in adolescent girls.
[Adolescent Medicine Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society. Eating Disorders in adolescents: principles of diagnosis and treatment. Paediatrics and Child Health 1998; 3(3) 189-92. Reaffirmed January 2001.]

37% of Canadian females age 11, 42% of Canadian females age 13 and 48% of Canadian females age 15 say they need to lose weight.
[Health and Welfare Canada. The health of Canada's youth, views and behaviours of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds from 11 countries. (1992). Anonymous. Ottawa ON: Minister of Supply and Services. H39-239/1993.]

81% of 10-year-olds restrict eating (diet). At least 46% of 9-year-olds restricted eating.
[Mellin, Scully and Irwin, Paper presented at American Dietetic Assoc. Annual Meeting, October 1986. (Berkley study) ]

52% of girls begin dieting before age 14.
[Johnson, et al, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1984, 13.]

71% of adolescent girls want to be thinner despite only a small proportion being over a healthy weight.
[Paxton et al (1991). Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 20, 361-379.]

The fear of being fat is so overwhelming that young girls have indicated in surveys that they are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents.
[Lisa Berzins, Dying to be thin: the prevention of eating disorders and the role of federal policy. APA co-sponsored congressional briefing. USA. 11/1997. ]

Health Canada found that almost one in every two girls and almost one in every five boys of grade 10 either were on a diet or wanted to lose weight.
[Trends in the Health of Canadian Youth. A report based on the data collected through the 1989/90, 1993/94 and 1997/98 survey cycles for the World Health Organization Cross-National Collaborative Study: Health Behaviours in School-Age Children (HBSC). The trend comparisons report on data collected from among 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds in Canada. This report includes data from a selection of other countries as well as data from grade 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 students in Canada. The report can be found at the following website: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/dca-dea/7-18yrs-ans/index_e.html]

A survey of parents found that one in 10 would abort a child if they knew it had a genetic tendency to be fat.
[Fraser, Laura. (1997). Losing it: America's obsession with weight and the industry that feeds on it. Dutton Press. New York.]

70% of women are dieting and 40% are continually gaining and losing weight.
[A report on the behaviour and attitudes of Canadians with respect to weight consciousness and weight control. The Canadian Gallup Poll, Ltd. June 1984.]

80%-90% of women dislike the size and shape of their bodies.
[Hutchison, Marcia. (1985). Transforming Body Image. The Crossing Press, New York.]

Glamour magazine's 1983 Body Image survey showed that 76% of correspondents considered themselves "too fat", including 45% of those classified underweight according to 1959 weight tables.
[Wooley, S.C. & Wooley, O.W. (1985). Intensive outpatient and residential treatment for bulimia. In Handbook for Psychotherapy for Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia., eds. Garner, D.M. & Garfinkel, P.E. The Guilford Press, New York. p. 392.]

Of women between the ages of 24 and 54 who diet, 76% diet for cosmetic rather than health reasons.
[Thompson, D.M., et al. (1985). Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia: The Socio-cultural Context. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 1 (3), 20-36.]

95% of all dieters will regain their lost weight in 1-5 years (Grodstein, 1996).

35% of "normal dieters" progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders (Shisslak & Crago, 1995).

25% of American men and 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day (Smolak, 1996).

Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products each year (Smolak, 1996).