Psychologists have discovered a circuit in the brain of mice that makes them crave food and seek it out, even when they are not hungry. When stimulated, this cluster of cells propels mice to forage vigorously and to prefer fatty and...
Garrick theatre, London Chandran is brilliantly bratty in Rosie Day’s one-woman story of vulnerability masked by sarcasm and bravado Rosie Day’s one-woman play takes teen pain seriously. In a blank bedroom washed in lilac, this...
Comments about our differences used to wound me. But then I was forced to confront my decades-long resentment “Why are you fat, and why is she thin,” a puzzled middle-aged man asked, as my identical twin Katy and I strolled into a...
Beat chief says NHS bosses must end postcode lottery in care for people with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder The number of people in the UK who have a previously little-known eating disorder, in which those afflicted avoid many...
Patients I’ve spoken to in the east of England were desperate for help, with dangerously low BMIs. On what possible grounds were they discharged? Last week, I had a long conversation with a woman who is trying desperately to loosen the...
The study looked at survey data from 3,670 young people in the UK and the Netherlands to investigate how appetite traits in early childhood might relate to the likelihood of developing eating disorder symptoms up to 10 years later. The...
New research examined how often people experiencing binge eating are also using cannabis recreationally, and whether patients who use cannabis experience more severe eating disorder symptoms or symptoms of struggling with mental health.
Exclusive: Esther Ghey says she believes social media use left her daughter vulnerable, while killers were able to access violent content online ‘I want to make things better’: Esther Ghey on her hopes for online reform The mother of...
New research indicates that the eating disorder anorexia nervosa is associated with being an early riser, unlike many other disorders that tend to be evening-based such as depression, binge eating disorder and schizophrenia.
Research on UPFs should be a wake-up call – but if people miss out on nutrients in a quest to avoid them, is it really helping? If you consumed a lot of news last year, you’d be forgiven for thinking that strawberry yoghurt wants to...
From chalk to rubbers and clay, there are a variety of reasons why those with pica syndrome yearn to eat non-foodstuffs. But is this dangerous? Mary (not her real name), a 20-year-old from Ireland, has just kicked her habit – of eating...
It is easy to blame Bollywood and the media for unrealistic expectations of beauty – but there are deeper social factors at work When Indian actor Aishwarya Rai, once Miss World, walked the runway at Paris fashion week for L’Oréal this...
There’s a real bounce and energy to this beautifully acted Netflix coming-of-age tale about a 16-year-old with an eating disorder – who’s on a mission to live wildly Everything Now is a coming-of-age story with several twists and a lot...
The playwright and actor’s debut drama about life on an eating disorder unit will have its world premiere at the Arcola theatre in London next summer The Papatango new writing prize has been awarded to Hull playwright Laura Waldren for a...
My own recovery from the ‘hopeless’ stage of this condition shows we must never give up on patients The leaking of NHS documents last week describing how patients with longstanding eating disorders could be offered palliative care under...
NHS England data shows 84 patients were sent hospitals in Scotland in 2020-23 due to lack of beds near their homes Vulnerable eating disorder patients from England are being sent hundreds of miles from their homes to Scotland for...
Experts say dietary guidelines from Australian government bodies are too weight-centric – a ‘huge disconnect’ between science and policy Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails ,...
Marina Hyde on Prince Andrew being chauffeured back into the royal fold by Prince William (1m24s); how Shallow Hal almost broke Gwyneth Paltrow’s body double (8m29s); and pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo contemplates overnight pop...
When Paltrow put on a fat suit for the Farrelly brothers’ blockbuster, an unknown acting student was hired as her body double. Two years later, Ivy Snitzer was starving to death Ivy Snitzer has screen presence – even on Zoom – with her...
Assembly, Edinburgh Erin Armstrong performs well as the 70s Scottish singer Lena Zavaroni but the show’s structure distracts from her anguish She had everything: fame, fortune and barrels of talent. She was even set to be “the greatest...
Since a misjudged anorexia storyline in Skins, television has continued to glorify and glamorise eating disorders. I am so relieved that Netflix’s hit teen drama has finally got it right When I look back at my teenage years, I remember...
In today’s newsletter: The number of patients both in and seeking support has risen drastically since 2015 – the reasons why are complicated • Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition Good morning. About 1.25 million people...
Some urgent cases waiting more than 12 weeks for treatment, according to children’s commissioner for England Children with “serious and potentially life-threatening” eating disorders are not being given timely access to care, the...
Todd Haynes animated the impossibly slender doll to show what drove the singer to her early death. The film has more in common than you might expect with Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, out next Friday, is the most...
Whether you're afraid of dogs, needles or enclosed spaces, one of the most effective interventions for this type of anxiety disorder is exposure therapy in which you confront your fear in a safe environment. A new study finds that...
Eating disorders are stereotypically associated with adolescents and young adults. Growing evidence, however, suggests that these conditions can occur at any time during a woman's lifespan, including at midlife. A new study finds that...
Research has revealed how a pathway in the brain that typically provides signals to stop eating may be altered by early life trauma. The discovery, obtained from studies in mice adds new perspective to binge eating and obesity.
Scientists hypothesize that circadian rhythm disruption is a psychopathology factor shared by a broad range of mental illnesses and that research into its molecular foundation could be key to unlocking better therapies and treatments.
A small device that detects food craving-related brain activity in a key brain region, and responds by electrically stimulating that region, has shown promise in a pilot clinical trial in two patients with loss-of-control binge eating...
An analysis of 11 major psychiatric disorders offers new insight into why comorbidities are the norm when it comes to mental illness. The study suggests that while there is no single gene or set of genes underlying risk for all of them,...
Though purging is often a condition associated with bulimia nervosa, new research at Ohio University suggests that a different kind of eating disorder could also be responsible.
Pregnant women with anorexia are at greater risk of having a stillbirth, underweight baby or pre-term birth, yet there are no clear guidelines for how doctors should manage the condition, according to a new study. Researchers have...
Brain scans of children ages 9-10 with a type of eating disorder that causes uncontrollable overeating showed differences in gray matter density compared to their unaffected peers, according to a new study. The study's findings suggest...
New research has revealed a key neural mechanism underlying the feeling of being unable to stop eating, the most salient aspect of binge episodes in eating disorders like bulimia nervosa.
Looking beyond the picky eating of childhood, researchers looked at this behavior in college students. Self-identified picky eaters ate significantly less fiber and vegetables and reported greater levels of social phobia than non-picky...
A new study found that eating disorder behaviors alter the brain's reward response process and food intake control circuitry, which can reinforce the behaviors.
A unique residential study has concluded that, contrary to perceived wisdom, people with eating disorders do not lose self-control - leading to binge-eating - in response to stress.
Higher levels of the stomach-derived hormone ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, predict a greater preference for smaller immediate monetary rewards over larger delayed financial rewards, a new study finds.
By analysing the genome of tens of thousand people, a team has discovering similarities between the genetic bases of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge-eating disorder, and those of psychiatric disorders. Eating disorders differ...
New analysis has shown a lack of strong evidence to support current guidance on psychological therapies for treating anorexia nervosa over expert treatment as usual. The findings highlight a need for further research and support a call...
A new study has found that anxiety and stress directly linked to COVID-19 could be causing a number of body image issues. The research, which involved 506 UK adults, found that worries linked to COVID-19 were associated with body...
People with eating disorders are 12 times more likely to be preoccupied with perceived flaws in their physical appearance than those without, according to new research.
A new study shows partially overlapping patterns of brain function in people with anorexia nervosa and those with body dysmorphic disorder, a related psychiatric condition characterized by misperception that particular physical...
People with anorexia tend to severely restrict their food intake, while those with bulimia go through periods of overeating followed by unhealthful behaviors to ‘purge.’ Learn more here.