Inside STAT: Researchers studying food insecurity see a new concern: eating disorders

(ADOBE)

A group of researchers is examining what has been a previously underreported group affected by eating disorders: people experiencing food insecurity. In her first major study on this issue, conducted among clients of a Texas food bank, psychologist Carolyn Black Becker found that the prevalence of eating disorders, including binge eating and purging, increased as food security decreased: Around 3% of those who were mildly insecure had an eating disorder, compared to nearly 38% of those who were so hungry that even their children't didn't have enough to eat. And to dietitians and other experts, these findings make sense. STAT contributor Carrie Arnold has more here.