Anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are serious psychiatric conditions recognized by the DSM-IV (APA, 2000). The prevalence of eating disorders in Ontario has been established in a large nonclinical community sample (Garfinkel et al., 1995; 1996). Drawing from a sample of 8,116 individuals under the age of 65 years, the lifetime prevalence of bulimia nervosa was found to be 1.1% for female subjects and 0.1% for male subjects (Garfinkel et al., 1995). The lifetime prevalence of anorexia nervosa was found to be 0.56% for females (Garfinkel et al., 1996) and 0.16 for males (Woodside, et al., 2001).
Garfinkel P.G., Lin, E., Goering, P., Spegg, C., Goldbloom, D., Kennedy, S., Kaplan, A., Woodside, B. (1996). Should Amenorrhea be Necessary for a Diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa.: Evidence From A Canadian Community Sample. British Journal of Psychiatry. 168, 500-506.
Garfinkel, P. E., Lin, E., Goering, P., Spegg, C., Goldbloom, D.S., Kennedy, S., et al. (1995). Bulimia nervosa in a Canadian community sample: prevalence and comparison of subgroups. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 1052-58. View Article (PDF)
Woodside, D.B., Garfinkel, P.E., Lin, E., Goering, P., Kaplan, A.S., Goldbloom, D.S., & Kennedy, S.H. (2001). Comparisons of men with full or partial eating disorders, men without eating disorders, and women with eating disorders in the community. American Journal of Psychiatry, 4, 570-574. View Article (PDF)
Critical Points for Early Recognition and Medical Risk Management in the Care of Individuals with Eating Disorders. AED Report, 2011. View Article (PDF)
We recommend the following reading material: Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Patients with Eating Disorders at www.psych.org (Type in "Eating Disorders" in the search section; click on "Practice Guidelines").
McVey, G.L., Davis, R., Kaplan, A., Katzman, D., Pinhas, L., Geist, R, Heinmaa, M & Forsyth, G. (2005). A community-based training program for eating disorders and its contribution to the development of a provincial network of specialized services. International Journal of Eating Disorders 37, 535-540. View Article (PDF) Eating disorders in adolescents: position paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine. Golden NH, Katzman DK, Kreipe RE, Stevens SL, Sawyer SM, Rees J, Nicholls D, Rome ES; Society For Adolescent Medicine. J Adolesc Health. 2003 Dec;33(6):496-503. View Article (PDF)
In addition to the full syndrome eating disorders, one in four adolescent females in Ontario (13-18 years) report engaging in at least one symptom of an eating disorder (Jones, Bennett, Olmsted, Lawson, & Rodin, 2001); and a significant amount of both male (25%) and female (30%) children, as young as 10-14 years, are dieting to lose weight, despite being within a healthy weight range (McVey, Pepler, Davis, Flett, & Abdolell, 2002; McVey, Tweed, & Blackmore, 2004; McVey, Tweed, & Blackmore, 2005). Jones, J. M., Bennett, S., Olmsted, M. P., Lawson, M. L., & Rodin, G. (2001). Disordered eating attitudes and behaviours in teenaged girls: A school-based study. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 165, 547-552. View Article (PDF)
McVey, G.L., Pepler, D., Davis, R.,Flett, G., & Abdolell, M. (2002). Risk and protective factors associated with disordered eating during early adolescence. Journal of Early Adolescence, 22, 76-96. View Article (PDF)
McVey, G.L., Tweed. S., & Blackmore, E. (2004) Dieting among preadolescent and young adolescent females. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 170, 1559-1562. View Article (PDF)
McVey, G.L., Tweed, S., & Blackmore, E. (2005). Correlates of dieting and muscle gaining behaviors in 10-14 year-old males and females. Preventive Medicine., 40, 1-9. View Article (PDF)
Current research indicates that teaching students about eating disorders is ineffective in changing their eating attitudes and behaviours. Moreover, this approach may be harmful since some students might learn to glamorize disturbed eating behaviours. Instead schools are encouraged to adopt school-wide approaches that encompass (a) sensitivity training to educators and parents that raise their awareness about the role they play in influencing children's (and youth's) body image and how they can learn to recognize and act on incidences of weight discrimination, (b) media literacy and life skills curriculum for both male and female students, (c) school policies that address weight-based teasing, and among other things (d) opportunities for physical activity for all children regardless of their size or shape.
Program of Prevention Research led by Dr. McVey, 2011 View Document (PDF) View Presentation (PDF)
Levine, M. P., & Smolak, L. (2006). The prevention of eating problems and eating disorders: Theory, research, and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Neumark-Sztainer, D., Levine, M. P., Paxton, S. J., Smolak, L., Piran, N., & Wertheim, E. H. (2006). Prevention of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating: What next? Eating Disorders, 14, 265-285. View Article (PDF)
O'Dea, J. (2000). School-based interventions to prevent eating problems: First do no harm. Eating Disorders, 8, 123-130. View Article (PDF)
McVey, G.L., Kirsh, G., Maker, D., Walker, K.S., Mullane, J., Laliberte, M., Ellis-Claypool, J., Vorderbrugge, J., Burnett, A., Cheung, L., Banks, L. Promoting positive body image among university students: A collaborative pilot study. Body image, 7(2010) 200-204. View Article (PDF)
Ferrari, M., Tweed, S., Rummens, J.A., Skinner, H., McVey, G. Health Materials and Strategies for the Prevention of Immigrants’ Weight-Related Problems. Qualitative Health Research, 19:9(2009), 1259-1272. View Article (PDF)
McVey, Gail, Gusella, Joanne, Tweed, Stacey and Ferrari, Manuela (2009). A Controlled Evaluation of Web-Based Training for Teachers and Public Health Practitioners on the Prevention of Eating Disorders, Eating Disorders,17:1,1-26. View Article (PDF)
McVey, G.L., Tweed, S., & Blackmore, E. (2007). Healthy Schools-Healthy Kids: A controlled evaluation of a comprehensive universal eating disorders prevention program. Body Image, 4, 115-136. View Article (PDF)
McVey, G.L., Davis, R., Tweed, S., & Shaw, B. (2004). An evaluation of a school-based program designed to improve body image satisfaction, global self-esteem, and eating attitudes and behaviours: A replication study. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 36, 1-11. View Article (PDF)
McVey, G.L., Lieberman, M., Voorberg, N., Wardrope, D., & Blackmore, E. (2003). School-based peer support groups: A new approach to the prevention of disordered eating. Eating Disorders: Treatment and Prevention of Eating Disorders 11(3), 169-185. View Article (PDF)
McVey, G.L., Lieberman, M., Voorberg, N., Wardrope, D., Blackmore, E., & Tweed, S. (2003). Replication of a prevention program designed to reduce disordered eating: Is a life skills approach sufficient for all middle school students? Eating Disorders: Journal of Treatment and Prevention 11(3), 187-195. View Article (PDF)
McVey, G.L. Program of Research on the Prevention of Weight-Related Disorders. View Presentation (PowerPoint)
Adair, C.E., McVey, G., deGroot, J., McLaren, L., Gray-Donald, K., Plotnikoff, R., Marcoux, G., Linder, J. Obesity and Eating Disorders: Seeking Common Ground to Promote Health. A national meeting of researcher, practitioners, and policy makers. Final Discussion Document: February 6, 2008. View Report (PDF)
Obesity and Eating Disorders: Seeking Common Ground to Promote Health. A national meeting of researcher, practitioners, and policy makers. Final Report: 2007. View Report (PDF)
The Dangers of Disordered Eating. 2008 View Report (PDF)
Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2003). Obesity and eating disorder prevention: An integrated approach? Adolescent Medicine, 14, 159.173.
Open Minds, Healthy Minds: Ontario's Comprehensive Mental Health and Addictions Strategy (2011) View Brochure (PDF)
Weight bias. Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Weight Bias at Home, School, Practitioner Settings. http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/weightbias
Curbing Childhood Obesity: A Federal, Provincial and Territorial Framework for Action to Promote Healthy Weights View Website
Obesity in Canada: A Joint Report from the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (2011) View Report
Russell-Mayhew, S. Mental Health, Wellness, and Childhood Overweight/Obesity: A Complex Relationship. Literature Review (2010) View Report
Plan d’action pour la mise en oeuvre 2010-2013 de la Charte pour une image corporelle saine et diversifiée
Stepping It Up: Moving the Focus from Health Care in Canada to a Healthier Canada, Health Council of Canada, December 2010. View Report
Our Health Our Future: A National Dialogue on Healthy Weights View Website
Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance (OCDPA) launched a campaign called Make Ontario the Healthiest Province in Canada. Entitled Ontario not as helathy as other provinces across Canada, it includes a video news release that tells the healthiest province story. To learn more about the campaign visit: http://www.healthiestprovince.ca
Please refer to the reference list below to obtain up-to-date research articles related to the treatment of eating disorders.
PDF of list of references for treatment and prevention (scientific articles) View References (PDF)
PDF of list of resources (videos, manualized programs) View Resources (PDF)