binge eating disorder

noun

plural binge eating disorders

: an eating disorder characterized by recurring episodes of binge eating accompanied by a sense of lack of control and often negative feelings about oneself but without intervening periods of compensatory behavior (as self-induced vomiting, purging by laxatives, fasting, or prolonged exercise)

Binge eating disorder is believed to be the most common eating disorder. … To be diagnosed, someone must binge eat at least once a week for three months, with a "binge" meaning eating a larger amount of food in a certain time frame than most people would eat in that same window and feeling out of control while doing it.

—Anna Medaris Miller

Binge eating disorder has been estimated to affect up to 5% of Americans. People with the condition regularly eat large amounts of food in a short time span, and feel they cannot control what or how much they are consuming.

—Amy Norton

—abbreviation BED

Examples of binge eating disorder in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In 2022, Halpern led a two-person study to gauge the feasibility of using DBS to treat binge eating disorder. —Jyoti Madhusoodanan, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Jan. 2024

If anything, food addiction is the closest cousin to binge eating disorder, says Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, a neuroscientist at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion. —Marta Zaraska, Scientific American, 11 Sep. 2023

Other eating disorders like binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa might cause frequent periods. —Jessica Migala, Health, 11 Sep. 2023

Black and Latino teens are also more likely to struggle with bulimia and binge eating disorder, which can lead to serious cardiac complications and significantly increase suicide risk even in patients who aren’t underweight. —Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2023

Know the Symptoms Some eating disorder symptoms are apparent, such as: Losing a lot of weight quickly Refusing to eat Regularly retreating to the bathroom for long periods after meals However, anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder may reveal themselves more subtly. —Amanda Gardner, Health, 25 Apr. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1981, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

binge eating disorder

noun

: an eating disorder characterized by recurring episodes of binge eating accompanied by a sense of lack of control and often negative feelings about oneself but without intervening periods of compensatory behavior (as self-induced vomiting, purging by laxatives, fasting, or prolonged exercise)

Recurrent binge episodes, marked by the consumption of a large amount of food and the experience of loss of control, are the hallmark of binge eating disorder …

—Richard L. Stein et al., International Journal of Eating Disorders

Binge eating disorder … resembles bulimia nervosa, but is characterized by the absence of purging and other behavior compensatory to binge eating.

—Richard A. Grucza et al., Comprehensive Psychiatry

—abbreviation BED