Binge Eating Disorder Statistics

There are limited reliable binge eating disorder statistics on the prevalence and incidence of Binge Eating Disorder (BED), a type of eating disorder not otherwise specified that is in the works to have its own diagnostic criteria in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), binge eating disorder statistics are as follows: 1.2% of adults experience BED in any 12 month period. This means that 1.6% of women and 2.0% of men will experience BED in any one year.

NIMH also lists on its website for binge eating disorder statistics that 2.8% of people will experience BED in their lifetime. This totals to 3.5% of all women and 2.0% of all men.

The median age of onset for BED is around 25 years old. Sadly, binge eating disorder statistics show that only 28.4% of people with BED will seek treatment in any one year and only 43.6% of those diagnosed with BED seek treatment in their lifetime.

According to the Weight-Control Information Network (WIN), an information service created by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Disorders and Kidney Disease and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 3% of all adults in the US will experience BED. According to these binge eating disorder statistics, women are more likely to suffer from BED than men in a 3:2 ratio.

As BED is an eating disorder that is more recently recognized than anorexia or bulimia, more binge eating disorder statistics will continue to be found as more research is done on this particular subset of eating disorders.