John Hopkins Medicine is raising a red flag about more kids potentially developing eating disorders, as the number of patients being treated for them is on the rise.
The organization shared that at its Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, doctors are seeing an increase in the number of patients being treated for eating disorders.
One study highlighted by Hopkins Medicine looked at health visit data from 2018 to 2022 for eating disorders, finding that for those under the age of 17, visits more than doubled.
Jasmine Reese, M.D., the director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Specialty Clinic at Johns Hopkins All Children’s in St. Petersburg, Florida, recently answered questions on the trend.
When it comes to the reasoning behind the trend, Reese said that many negative things have skyrocketed since the pandemic, as isolation and increased stress lead to several “maladaptive coping mechanisms, or unhealthy ways of dealing with stress.”
“During that period, an increase in screen time and social media use led to a lot more focus on body image and body comparison,” Reese said. “The numbers we’re seeing now seem closer to what we experienced during the pandemic.”
The medical field has been raising alarms about this trend for some time now, as a 2021 study from the American Society for Nutrition found that approximately 24 million people in the United States suffer from an eating disorder.
These disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake, and more, according to Psychiatry.org.
When it comes to how younger generations are being exposed to this trend, Reese said social media has played a role, as experts say that body image issues stem from unrealistic standards.
Reese also said that social media helps push diet trends, which can be especially harmful to teens who need to be eating to help them grow and develop.
“Almost all teens have access to social media, whether on a phone or a computer. This means easy access to online content that may be glamorizing fad diets, weight loss, or certain body types,” Reese said.
When it comes to ways that parents can help, Reese suggested several different tactics they can use to encourage healthy eating habits.
“We encourage parents to avoid strict rules around food and mealtimes in the home and outside of the home,” she said. “For example, avoid labeling food as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ food because we know there are nutrients and benefits to gain from eating a variety of foods.”
She added that eating foods in “moderation is a good” practice, though extreme rules can create unwanted habits and relationships with food.