More young children may struggle with eating disorders than previously thought, a new study reveals.
Data on nearly 12,000 U.S. children between the ages of 9 and 10 that was collected as part of a federally funded study found that 5% had engaged in binge eating, researchers reported. Another 2.5% had taken measures to avoid gaining weight.
Researchers also found that boys are just as at risk for disordered eating as girls, based on the results.
“We tend to think that eating disorders predominantly afflict girls, but there’s more and more data showing that boys struggle just as much,” lead researcher Stuart Murray, director of the Eating Disorders Program at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, said in a university news release. “This is a call to arms to make sure we’re taking those cases seriously.”…