Eating Disorders in Canadian Tweens and Teens
A Guide for Awareness and Action
At least a third of females aged 10 to 14 in Canada are dieting or using extreme weight control behaviours at any given time.
— Canadian Paediatric Society, 2025
As a parent, educator, or caregiver, you might be noticing that the young people in your life are increasingly stressed about food and body image. This isn't just adolescent angst; it's a burgeoning public health crisis. In Canada, an estimated 1.4 million youth are living with an eating disorder, yet only 25% receive appropriate treatment.
The COVID-19 pandemic shone a harsh light on this long-standing issue, causing a startling 126% surge in emergency room visits for youth with eating disorders. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the causes, warning signs, and concrete steps you can take to help, drawing from the latest data and expert recommendations from Canadian health authorities.
Understanding the Reality: Facts and Figures
Let's start with the scale of the challenge. The statistics paint a clear picture of a widespread and serious issue affecting Canadian youth.
Prevalence: Eating disorders are more common than many realize. A comprehensive national analysis by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) estimates that 1.4 million Canadian youth are affected by eating disorders. However, diagnosis rates from formal studies remain low, with a systematic review reporting a 0.2% prevalence among youth aged 12–18, a figure experts believe is a significant underestimation, especially post-pandemic.
Hospitalizations: The most severe cases tell a compelling story. A 2024 study tracking hospitalizations from 2010 to 2022 found that 18,740 children and youth were admitted for an eating disorder. The most common diagnosis was anorexia nervosa (51.3% of cases). Critically, rates spiked dramatically during the pandemic, with total hospitalizations jumping 84.5% between 2019/20 and 2021/22.
Age and Gender: While eating disorders can affect anyone, data shows distinct patterns. The average age of hospitalization is 14.7 years, with the highest rates among 15- and 16-year-olds. Females are hospitalized at a rate over 10 times higher than males (66.7 vs. 5.9 per 100,000). However, the incidence in males is likely under-reported, and the average age of hospitalization for males is significantly younger (14.0 years).
The "Dieting" Pipeline: Perhaps the most telling data point for prevention is behaviour that precedes a full-blown disorder. The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) reports that at least one-third of females aged 10–14 in Canada are actively dieting or using extreme weight control behaviours. By Grade 8, over 50% of teens have tried to lose weight, despite most being at a healthy weight. This "dieting culture" is a primary risk factor.
The Root Causes: Why Do Eating Disorders Develop?
Eating disorders are not a choice or a phase. They are complex mental illnesses arising from a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors. Understanding these roots is key to dismantling stigma and promoting early intervention.
Genetic and Biological Predisposition: Research shows that eating disorders can run in families, suggesting a genetic component. Neurobiological factors related to brain chemistry and the regulation of anxiety and impulse control also play a significant role.
Psychological Factors: Certain personality traits, such as perfectionism, high anxiety, low self-esteem, and a strong need for control, are commonly associated with the development of eating disorders. For many youth, rigid food rules and body control become a maladaptive coping mechanism for overwhelming emotions or stress.
Sociocultural and Environmental Pressures: This is where the influence of modern life becomes critical.
Weight Stigma and "Ideals": Internalizing the "thin ideal" for girls or the "muscular ideal" for boys is a powerful predictor of disordered eating, regardless of actual body weight.
Social Media: A growing body of evidence links high social media use to body image disturbance and eating concerns, with a particularly strong association in younger adolescents. The constant exposure to curated images, diet trends ("clean eating," keto), and fitness influencers can distort reality.
Family and Peer Dynamics: Parental criticism about weight, family pressure to diet, and parental modelling of dieting behaviours are significant risk factors. Peer influence and weight-related bullying are also major contributors.
Activities: Involvement in weight-focused sports or activities (e.g., ballet, gymnastics, wrestling, rowing) can increase pressure.
Beyond Girls: Who Can Be Affected?
The stereotype that eating disorders only affect affluent, young, cisgender women is not only false but dangerous. This misconception prevents countless people from being seen and seeking help.
Boys and Young Men: Males represent a substantial portion of cases but are often overlooked. Their disorders may manifest as a drive for extreme muscularity (sometimes called "bigorexia" or muscle dysmorphia), use of anabolic steroids, or rigid dietary protocols focused on "bulking," rather than the pursuit of thinness.
Gender-Diverse Youth: Transgender and non-binary youth face unique and heightened risks. Gender dysphoria (distress due to a mismatch between gender identity and sex assigned at birth) can become entangled with body image distress, sometimes leading to disordered eating as an attempt to alter or suppress gendered physical features.
All Backgrounds: Research consistently shows that eating disorders affect people across all socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups. The belief that they are illnesses of privilege is a harmful myth that impedes equitable access to care.
The Severe Implications: More Than Just Food
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, estimated between 10–15%. The risks are both physical and psychological.
Physical Health: The body is starved of essential nutrients, leading to potentially irreversible damage. Consequences include heart failure, osteoporosis, severe gastrointestinal issues, dental erosion (from purging), growth stunting, and loss of menstrual periods. The strain on the body is immense and can be life-threatening.
Mental Health: Co-occurring disorders are the norm, not the exception. About 50% of people with an eating disorder also meet the criteria for depression. Anxiety disorders, substance use, and obsessive-compulsive patterns are also common. The risk of suicide is tragically high.
Social and Functional Impact: These disorders are profoundly isolating. Youth often withdraw from friends and family, lose interest in activities they once loved, and see their academic performance plummet. The illness consumes their identity.
Recognizing the Warning Signs
Early intervention saves lives. Knowing what to look for is a parent's or caregiver's first line of defense. Warning signs can be behavioural, physical, and emotional.
Category / Specific Signs to Watch For
Behavioural and Dietary: Preoccupation with calories, dieting, "clean" eating; skipping meals; making excuses to avoid eating; eating in secret; frequent trips to bathroom after meals; rigid food rituals; over-exercising (even when injured or sick).
Physical: Noticeable, rapid weight loss or fluctuation; feeling cold constantly; dizziness/fainting; thinning hair; dry skin; fatigue; absence of menstruation; dental problems.
Emotional and Social: Increased irritability, anxiety, or depression; withdrawal from friends and social activities; extreme body dissatisfaction (frequent negative comments about weight/shape); denial that low weight or behaviour is a problem.
What You Can Do: A Guide to Action
If you suspect a problem, your response is critical. Approach the situation with compassion, not confrontation.
Educate Yourself: Before talking, learn about eating disorders from reputable sources (like those linked in this article) to understand they are illnesses, not choices.
Choose the Right Time and Place: Have a private, calm conversation free from distractions. Avoid discussing it during or right after a meal.
Use "I" Statements: Focus on your observations and concern, not accusations. Say, "I've noticed you seem really stressed about food lately, and I'm worried about you," instead of, "You need to stop dieting."
Listen Without Judgment: Be prepared for denial or anger. Your goal is to express care and openness, not to debate or force a confession. Validate their feelings.
Avoid Comments on Weight or Appearance: Even well-meaning praise for weight loss can reinforce dangerous behaviours. Focus on their health, happiness, and character.
Encourage Professional Help: Frame seeking help as a sign of strength. Say, "I think talking to someone who knows a lot about this could help you feel better. I can help us find someone and go with you."
Support, Don't Police: Your role is to be a supportive ally in their recovery journey, not the food police. Forcing someone to eat can backfire and damage trust.
How Professionals Can Help and When To Seek Them
When to seek help: The time is now. Do not wait for weight loss to become extreme or for all diagnostic criteria to be met. If you see a cluster of the warning signs above, trust your instincts. Contact your family doctor, paediatrician, or a local mental health service immediately. In a medical emergency, such as fainting, chest pain, or severe weakness, go to the emergency room.
Social workers, counsellors, and therapists are central to effective treatment, which is often delivered by a team (doctor, therapist, dietitian). Key therapeutic approaches can include:
Family-Based Treatment (FBT / Maudsley Method): The gold-standard for adolescent anorexia. It empowers parents to temporarily take charge of meal planning and supervision to restore their child's weight, with the therapist coaching the family through this process.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Helps youth identify and change the distorted thought patterns about food, weight, and body image that drive their behaviours.
Specialist Supportive Clinical Management (SSCM): Combines clinical management (e.g., weight monitoring) with supportive psychotherapy to address the illness's impact on life.
Addressing Co-occurring Issues: Therapists also treat the depression, anxiety, or trauma that often underpin the eating disorder.
The Path Forward
Recovery from an eating disorder is a challenging journey, but it is absolutely possible with timely, evidence-based treatment and a strong support network. Remember that awareness in our homes and communities is the first step toward change. Challenge diet talk, promote body neutrality, and foster environments where young people are valued for who they are, not what they look like.
If you or someone you love is struggling, reach out. You are not alone.
Whatever it is, we’re here for you.
Life is uncertain. Jobs are stressful. Parenting is hard. Relationships take work. Families can be dysfunctional. And, sometimes love hurts. When you’re confronted by feelings, events, or issues that are making your life challenging, it’s okay to ask for some help.
REFERENCES:
National Initiative for Eating Disorders: Eating Disorders in Canada
CAMH: Understanding and Finding Help for Eating Disorders
National Library of Medicine: Eating disorder hospitalizations among children and youth in Canada
Canadian Paediatric Society: A guide to the community management of paediatric eating disorders
Canadian Institutes of Health Research: More than 1.4 million youth have an eating disorder
Government of Canada: Eating disorders in teens: Information for parents and caregivers
