The Gap: Binge Eating Disorder is left out

Quick answer: A new study found Australia has the highest estimated rate of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa of any country, but it did not count binge eating disorder. When binge eating disorder is left out of national data, it is far less likely to be funded or supported, even though it has been recognised as its own diagnosis since 2013.

The gap

A new study has found that Australia has the highest estimated rate of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa of any country. The Global Burden of Disease analysis, published in JAMA Psychiatry, estimates that 18.1 million people were living with one of these two eating disorders worldwide in 2023. In Australia the estimate is 1,026.5 per 100,000 people.

Those numbers matter. But look at what they cover. The study counted anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Other eating disorders, including binge eating disorder, were not included.

The authors say so themselves. The findings do not capture the full burden of eating disorders.

That is the gap. When binge eating disorder isn’t counted, it is far less likely to be funded or supported. People living with it are missing from the numbers that guide where help goes.

So what would it take to get binge eating disorder counted properly in national data?

How long has it been?

Binge eating disorder has been recognised as its own diagnosis since 2013. That is 13 years.

Thirteen years is long enough for it to be studied on its own. Long enough for it to be counted alongside the others. Long enough for it to be a natural part of the conversation, not a line near the end of a post.

Yet here it is again, listed among the eating disorders that were not included.

Butterfly Foundation said it plainly: other eating disorders, like binge eating disorder, OSFED and ARFID, need to be included in the conversation too. I agree. And I want to ask the question that sits underneath it.

How long has it been since binge eating disorder was either studied on its own or naturally included?

Every year it stays out of the count is another year people ask for help in a system that has not made room for them.

The GP and person conversation

None of this matters if it stays in a report.

When a person books a GP appointment, they are taking a big step. They sit down, say what is happening, and hope someone knows what to do with it. That conversation is where all of the counting, funding and awareness has to land.

The National Eating Disorders Collaboration says it well: wherever a person seeks care, they should receive a compassionate and informed response. For many people, a GP appointment is where it starts.

So this is what I am asking for. Count binge eating disorder. Study it. Fund it. And make sure it reaches the appointment room.

Even one referral, from one conversation, is a measure that matters.Something has to happen in that conversation.

Even one referral, from one conversation, is a measure that matters, because it shows that something helpful happened for that person. There has to be action from that first conversation a person with Binge Eating Disorder is brave enough to start.

That feels like a reasonable place to begin, and I believe it is well within our reach.