In Mexico, 25% of adolescents suffer from eating disorders

MEXICO CITY. May 31, 2023.- It is estimated that in Mexico 25 percent of adolescents suffer, to varying degrees, from an eating behavior disorder (ED), most of the cases associated with some mental problem; less than 10 percent of those affected are in treatment, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

In the general population, the incidence is between 1.5 and 3 percent, although the figures have probably increased due to the pandemic, says José Eduardo Otáñez Ludick, a professor at the Faculty of Higher Studies of Nutrition at UNAM’s Zaragoza School of Higher Education.

These disorders -anorexia and bulimia, among the best known- affect more young women, particularly adolescents, although it seems that they are increasingly affecting children under 12 years of age, warns the expert.

On the occasion of the National Day for the Fight against Eating Disorders, which is commemorated on June 2, the university professor points out that this is a series of mental pathologies where the act of eating is altered. “We see a change in eating behavior.”

TYT Newsroom