
Emma Rich, University of Bath; Niamh Ni Shuilleabhain, University of Bath, and Simone Fullagar, University of Bath
An estimated 1.6m people in the UK have experienced an eating disorder. In the US, these figures are as high as 20m women and 10m men. With numbers like these, and rising levels of body disaffection among young people, tackling eating disorders is an increasingly urgent task.
As well as leading to potentially life threatening conditions, eating disorders have significant social and economic impacts. While we are often told of the burden of obesity on the NHS, it is also worth remembering that eating disorders are reported to cost the British economy £15 billion each year.
These figures are a powerful reminder of the futility of single solutions to complex health problems. The influential (but sometimes simple) approach that focuses on a response to the cult of slenderness, body image and the role of the media, has had a powerful impact on the programmes developed in sc...
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