Binge Eating Disorder Statistics (UK)
It is harder to find reliable statistics related to binge eating disorder in the UK than it is for anorexia or bulimia. One possible reason for this is binge eating disorder has only recently been recognised and taken seriously as an illness.
The prevalence of binge eating disorder is more difficult to estimate because it currently has no official diagnosis, and statistics vary according to the specific nature of bingeing behaviours they are referring to.
Here are some binge eating disorder statistics from various UK organisations, which were all obtained from their corresponding websites:
NHS National Library for Health:
Binge eating usually begins during the teenage years and early 20s, although people may not present until later on in life, usually in their 30s and 40s.
http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk:
It is thought that binge eating is more common than other eating disorders, with approximately 2% of adults being affected.
Almost half of all sufferers experience depression at some point during their lifetime, which suggests depressive symptoms are strongly associated with binge eating.
National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE):
Not all, but most binge eating disorder sufferers are obese (weighing 20 percent more than is considered healthy).
10 to 15 percent of mildly obese people enrolled in weight loss programmes have binge eating disorder.
Slightly more women than men have binge eating eating disorder. 60 per cent of sufferers are thought to be women, while 40 percent are thought to be men.