Eating Disorders - Statistics

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Author: CampusBlues.com
Topic: Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders affect large groups of people throughout the United States.

• 5-10 million adolescent girls and women struggle with eating disorders and borderline conditions.

• 1 Million boys and men struggle with eating disorders and borderline conditions.

• The number of people with eating disorders and borderline conditions is triple the number of people living with AIDS (664,921 people are living with AIDS).

• Eating disorders affect at least three times as many people as schizophrenia does (2.2 million people are living with schizophrenia).

The acceptance of natural beauty is compromised by the lack of diverse body types in the media.

• 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.
  
• Almost half of American elementary school students between the 1st and 3rd grades want to be thinner.
  
• 4 out of 5 children at the age of ten years old are afraid of being fat.
  
• 4 out of 5 American women are dissatisfied with their appearance.
  

Calorie restriction and other common dieting practices can lead to serious health consequences including eating disorders.

• Almost half of American women are on a diet on any given day. 4
• 1 in 4 men are on a diet on any given day. 4
•  Half of 9 and 10-year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet. 5
• 35% of "normal dieters" progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 1 in 4 will progress to partial or full syndrome eating disorders. 7
• Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet related products each year. 4