18.1 Million People Affected by Eating Disorders, Neither Weight-Loss Drugs Nor Social Media Algorithms Avoid the Blame

Global statistics for eating disorders have climbed further. A new study published in JAMA Psychiatry estimates that the annual incidence of anorexia and bulimia rose 71% from 1990 to 2023. In 2023, these two conditions affected around 18.1 million people. The research team, led by Ruhai Bai from the Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, built statistical models using data from 204 countries and regions. They also calculated the resulting health burden: in 2023, the two conditions cost the global population roughly 3.83 million years of healthy life. By 2050, the total number of patients could grow to 21.8 million.

This figure does not cover all types of eating disorders. Cheri Levinson, a clinical psychologist at the University of Louisville who has studied eating disorders for nearly 20 years, says anorexia and bulimia make up less than half of all eating disorder cases, so the actual number of affected people could be three times the reported count. Her first-hand clinical experience is even more telling: she is seeing more patients, with more severe symptoms and an earlier onset age — even children as young as 8 or 9 have been diagnosed with the conditions.

There is no single simple cause for this trend, and the study does not explain what drives the rising incidence. Clinicians are focusing on two environmental factors. The first is social media. Cynthia Bulik from the University of North Carolina notes that social comparison, influencers, viral challenges, and popular weight loss trends can all act as triggers for eating disorders. Researchers from the University of Melbourne compared TikTok feeds and found that users living with eating disorders received 4343% more harmful eating-disorder-related content than users without eating disorders, with some people getting more than 1000 problematic videos per month. Algorithms understand user behavior extremely well, especially when it comes to people's fear of gaining weight.

The second factor is GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. This class of medications, represented by semaglutide, was originally developed for diabetes treatment before becoming the leading product in the weight loss market. A Gallup survey conducted this year shows 15% of U.S. adults have used such drugs for weight loss. As access to these drugs becomes easier, their hidden risks are also getting harder to detect. Levinson's small-scale study found that 30% of eating disorder patients have used GLP-1 drugs, and 10% have misused them. She and her colleagues have encountered children who developed eating disorders after being prescribed GLP-1 drugs for medical reasons, as well as 11-year-olds who bought the drugs directly on TikTok.

Bulik worries that GLP-1 drugs can cause faster, more extreme weight loss in patients with anorexia, making their conditions much harder to reverse by the time they seek medical care. Both she and Levinson are continuing follow-up research. A study and corresponding clinical guideline released this month recommends that clinicians screen patients for eating disorders before prescribing GLP-1 drugs, and step up patient education and medication monitoring.

There is an easily overlooked boundary here: these clinical observations do not prove that GLP-1 drugs cause eating disorders. But they remind us that as weight-loss medications reach a far wider population, screening and follow-up care cannot be left to patients' own discretion. The tools themselves do not make clinical judgments — the prescribing doctors have to take that responsibility.

If you or someone around you may be struggling with an eating disorder, the National Eating Disorders Association provides information and support at: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

Original article link: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/30/1147838/eating-disorders-rise-glp-1s-weight-loss-drugs/
Author: Jessica Hamzelou