Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating: A Global Perspective

Abstract

The continuous progression of the prevalence of eating disorders (ED) is a cause of concern during the last decades, and epidemiologic research has shown different increases between countries. Food is as well a psychological need that presents interindividual differences such as preferences/rejections to foods, healthy/unhealthy dietary habits, and worries about the shape, which result in “body dissatisfaction.” Thus, dieting and compensatory behaviors to control weight are acquired as normal behaviors by the general population increasing the risk to suffer from ED. In addition, healthy people and other atypical disorders are strongly influenced by emotions in their eating behaviors, not only EDs.