Food Insecurity in Eating Disorders

Food Insecurity in Eating Disorders

Food insecurity is defined as a lack of consistent access to a sufficient amount of nutritious food. Across the UK, 14% of households experience moderate to severe levels of food insecurity, with this incidence rate being elevated in people with a mental health diagnosis. This animation explores the impact of food insecurity on people with eating disorders. The words and experiences featured in the animation were inspired by answers from a survey conducted by the EDIFY programme. Many thanks to all of the participants for providing such important data on this issue.

This work was supported by UK Research and Innovation as part of the EDIFY programme (grant number: MR/W002418/1)

Contributors: Ulrike Schmidt, Helen Sharpe, Heike Bartel, Callum Bryson, Başak İnce Çağlar, Daire Douglas, Amelia Hemmings, Carina Kuehne, Sarah Moody, Jessica Wilkins

More about EDIFY

Eating Disorders: Delineating illness and recovery trajectories to inform personalised prevention and early intervention in young people (EDIFY).

EDIFY is led by Professor Ulrike Schmidt, King’s College London and Dr Helen Sharpe, University of Edinburgh, alongside other academic and third sector partners across the UK. The project has young people’s voices at its heart, with an advisory board of young people affected by eating disorders helping to steer and shape the whole research process. It is one of 7 projects funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of their 'Adolescent Mental Health and the Developing Mind' scheme.

Click here to see more from the series…

Eating Disorders in People with Higher Weight