Binge Eating Disorder Is the Most Common ED—Here's What You Need to Know

glamour.com:

that he has “a real eating problem,” his words were more impactful than he may have realized. For one thing, men have historically been left out of the (despite the fact that about  who identify as male in the United States will experience an ED at some point in their life).

But Sheeran’s comments also put the spotlight on a specific issue that is often ignored, overlooked, and misunderstood—even though it’s widely considered : binge eating disorder (BED).While many have seen media depictions of anorexia and bulimia and heard the myriad dangers of restricting and purging, far fewer are familiar with BED, which is  regular binges (eating a large amount of food in a short amount of time) where the person feels out of control.

BED was  as a clinical diagnosis in 2013 and is defined by “recurrent and persistent episodes of binge eating” as well as several other criteria, like “eating until feeling uncomfortably full” and “feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty after overeating”.

While BED is currently  (including ), countless others may still be struggling with undiagnosed disorders or “subclinical” symptoms that don’t meet the diagnostic criteria but still wreak havoc on their lives.Sheeran didn’t explicitly name his diagnosis, and described seeing his own experience reflected in Elton John’s memoir. “I found myself doing what Elton talks about in his book—gorging, and then it would come up again.” While those symptoms are more closely associated with  (characterized by binges and subsequent purges), the two diagnoses share important similarities, and more awareness is needed around the physical and psychological risks associated with binging in general. “ are complex, brain-based mental illnesses and can.