top of page

Psychological Encyclopedia

Eating Disorders in Men: Symptoms, Underdiagnosis, and Care

6 days ago
17 min read

Author: Angela Bogdanova · Published: October 10, 2026 · Editorial Policy

Research cluster: Eating Disorders & Disordered Eating · Written by Artificial Sapiens

Eating disorders in men are serious, treatable mental health conditions involving disturbed eating, distress about food or appearance, and sometimes medically dangerous nutritional or compensatory behaviors. They can affect men and boys at every body size, including people who look athletic, muscular, or physically healthy. Some seek thinness; others feel driven to become leaner, larger, or more muscular. Others experience binge eating, purging, restricted variety, or food avoidance that has little to do with appearance. Recognizing the full range matters because clinical problems can remain hidden behind culturally familiar language about fitness, self-discipline, and performance. The National Institute of Mental Health describes eating disorders as potentially life-threatening conditions affecting all sexes and body weights; a major clinical review of eating disorders in boys and men examines both conventional and muscularity-oriented presentations.

The central clinical question is whether eating, exercise, body-related thoughts, or avoidance have become persistently distressing, impairing, rigid, or physically harmful. A man's weight, muscle mass, appearance, ability to work, or participation in sport cannot settle that question. Men can meet criteria for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED), or other recognized conditions. Muscularity-focused symptoms may coexist with one of these disorders or require assessment for related conditions. See the wider eating disorders overview for the diagnostic landscape.

What Do Eating Disorders Look Like in Men?

The phrase “eating disorders in men” describes the affected population, not a separate psychiatric diagnosis. The core diagnostic categories apply across sexes. What can differ is how concerns are expressed, which behaviors become socially reinforced, who recognizes the warning signs, and whether assessment instruments and services notice the problem. Research documents presentations organized around thinness, weight control, muscularity, food rules, binge eating, compensatory exercise, and impairment. These patterns can overlap in one person and evolve over time. Brown and Keel's review and a 2026 narrative review detail why clinicians need to ask about more than the pursuit of thinness.

A man may describe “cutting,” “bulking,” “clean eating,” optimizing macros, improving definition, or maintaining a particular physique. Those activities are not diagnoses and may occur without any disorder. They warrant closer assessment when they involve intense fear or guilt about ordinary meals, inflexible rituals, escalating restrictions, social withdrawal, distress when exercise is interrupted, repeated binge episodes, purging, impaired concentration, injury, or evidence of undernutrition. The clinical meaning comes from the full pattern, its consequences, and a qualified assessment rather than any single behavior.

Signs and Symptoms Men, Partners, and Clinicians May Notice

Eating patterns and food-related behaviors

Potential warning signs include increasingly narrow food choices; avoiding shared meals; skipping or concealing meals; compulsive tracking that dominates daily life; distress when plans disrupt a food routine; cycles of restriction and loss-of-control eating; eating secretly with shame; and attempts to compensate for eating through fasting, vomiting, misuse of medications, or excessive physical activity. A person might report that ordinary eating feels morally loaded or that self-worth depends on conforming to food or physique rules. Distress, persistence, loss of flexibility, and health effects are important. For a broader description, read early signs of an eating disorder and disordered eating. NIMH lists the clinical patterns associated with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and ARFID.

Muscularity and exercise-related warning signs

Some men experience relentless pressure to be lean and muscular simultaneously. Appearance-based anxiety may remain intense despite observable strength or muscularity. Distress can be linked to body checking, comparison, training despite injury or exhaustion, rigid food practices framed as fitness, and difficulty resting. Muscularity-oriented disordered eating has a developing assessment literature, including the Muscularity-Oriented Eating Test (MOET); the existence of a measurement construct does not mean every muscularity goal is pathological, and a test score never establishes a diagnosis. Lavender, Brown, and Murray describe how muscularity-focused symptoms can escape conventional thinness-centered descriptions.

Emotional, social, and physical changes

Changes can include anxiety or irritability around meals, shame about eating or appearance, secretive behavior, low mood, withdrawal from friends or relationships, deterioration in sexual function, fatigue, dizziness, feeling cold, gastrointestinal symptoms, poor sleep, recurrent injuries, and declining athletic or work performance. A man may appear outwardly successful while struggling internally. Some medical consequences stem from undernutrition; others arise from purging, dehydration, or associated conditions. SAHM emphasizes that restrictive eating disorders in boys and young men may be missed and that serious complications also occur in atypical anorexia and ARFID.

Why Eating Disorders in Men Are Often Underrecognized

A persistent stereotype about who develops an eating disorder

For decades, clinical literature, public imagery, and services disproportionately centered girls and women. Men may therefore fail to recognize their own symptoms, anticipate ridicule, or assume they would not be welcome in treatment. Relatives and clinicians may misinterpret alarming symptoms as strong willpower or enthusiasm for fitness. A primary-care review by Sangha and colleagues identifies barriers to recognition, while the 2026 review by Paslakis describes the influence of gender stereotypes, stigma, and masculinity norms. Underrecognition is a clinical and research concern, but it should not be reduced to a single universal percentage: estimates vary with setting, definition, and measurement.

Assessment centered only on weight loss and thinness

When a clinician asks only about trying to become thinner, a patient primarily worried about muscular size or leanness may appear to screen negative despite significant impairment. Researchers have developed measures that consider muscularity-oriented concerns; however, their performance depends on the population and clinical context. The original MOET validation study used samples of university men, and a 2025 validation study evaluated shorter and longer versions across university athletes and nonathletes. Such studies support assessment development, not a stand-alone diagnostic cutoff applicable to every man.

Barriers to treatment access

Barriers can include shame, fear of being perceived as weak, cost or insurance limitations, service availability, misunderstanding of medical risk, and care environments that feel designed for a different patient population. These barriers are not exclusive to men. A systematic review of treatment uptake identified patient stigma and shame, clinician knowledge gaps, and the importance of supportive relationships. Clinical programs should explain their eligibility, offer respectful language, ask what would make attendance possible, and evaluate symptoms without relying on gender stereotypes.

How Common Are Eating Disorders in Men?

Eating disorders affect a meaningful number of men and boys, but a single prevalence figure would obscure differences among anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, ARFID, subthreshold symptoms, and muscularity-related pathology. Estimates change according to age, country, sample, diagnostic instrument, time frame, and whether the study measures diagnosed disorders or self-reported symptoms. Many older datasets also underrepresent gender-diverse people or rely on narrow conceptions of male eating concerns. Brown and Keel (2023) review epidemiology and its limitations; research on sex and gender in eating disorders describes how biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors intersect.

The conclusion supported by this evidence is practical: symptoms in men merit assessment on their own clinical merits. Relative differences between groups do not determine the seriousness of an individual case. A clinic that waits for a stereotypical patient appearance or a conventional screening threshold will miss some people who need help.

Which Diagnoses Can Affect Men?

Anorexia nervosa and atypical anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa involves persistent energy restriction leading to significantly low weight in the person's developmental and clinical context, intense fear of weight gain or behavior interfering with weight restoration, and disturbances in the experience or evaluation of weight and shape, or recognition of illness severity. Men may describe feared fat gain, pursuit of a lean physique, or identity tied to discipline. Atypical anorexia nervosa is a presentation within OSFED in which the core anorexia-related psychological and behavioral features occur despite weight remaining within or above a range conventionally classified as low. Atypical anorexia can still involve profound malnutrition and medical instability. For diagnosis-specific detail see anorexia nervosa and atypical anorexia nervosa. SAHM explicitly addresses the potentially severe complications of both.

Bulimia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa involves recurrent binge-eating episodes with loss of control and recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior, alongside excessive influence of body shape or weight on self-evaluation, within defined diagnostic criteria. The person's body weight can fall anywhere across the distribution. Men may hide vomiting, medication misuse, fasting, or excessive exercise, and associated electrolyte disturbances can be dangerous. The diagnosis is based on the full pattern, not the presence of vomiting alone. See bulimia nervosa: symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment and the NIMH symptom guide.

Binge eating disorder

Binge eating disorder involves recurrent episodes of eating unusually large amounts accompanied by a sense of loss of control and associated distress, without the recurrent compensatory behaviors defining bulimia nervosa. Episodes are assessed in context; everyday overeating, a large meal after sport, and a clinical binge episode are not interchangeable concepts. Men may delay help because their symptoms are interpreted only through weight management. Effective treatment targets binge eating and associated distress, rather than assuming that weight loss is the primary therapeutic goal. See binge eating disorder and NICE guidance.

ARFID, OSFED, UFED, and less commonly discussed disorders

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) involves inadequate or restricted intake associated with consequences such as weight or nutritional compromise, dependence on nutritional support, or marked psychosocial interference, without the weight-and-shape disturbance central to anorexia nervosa. Drivers can involve sensory sensitivity, low interest in eating, or fear of adverse consequences of eating. Men and boys can also meet criteria for OSFED, for clinically significant presentations not meeting the full criteria of another named disorder, or for unspecified feeding or eating disorder (UFED), when available information does not support a more specific determination. Pica and rumination disorder have their own clinical definitions and medical differentials. Read ARFID and OSFED. The NIMH overview discusses ARFID, and APA guidance supports diagnosis-specific care.

What about orthorexia?

Orthorexia is a popular and research term referring to preoccupation with perceived healthy or pure eating that can become rigid and impairing. It is not currently a distinct official DSM-5-TR eating-disorder diagnosis. When someone describes orthorexia-like symptoms, clinicians assess actual restriction, distress, functional impairment, medical consequences, and whether criteria for an established disorder or another condition are met. A descriptive term can be useful in conversation without replacing a clinical assessment.

Muscle Dysmorphia, Body Image, and Eating Disorders

Muscle dysmorphia is a form of body dysmorphic disorder in which a person is preoccupied with believing their body is insufficiently muscular, sometimes despite considerable muscle development. Body dysmorphic disorder is classified with obsessive-compulsive and related disorders rather than among the feeding and eating disorders. Muscle dysmorphia can coexist with rigid nutrition rules, compensatory exercise, or a diagnosable eating disorder, yet the two concepts are not interchangeable. Asking whether the chief concern is perceived muscular inadequacy, weight or shape, food control, or a combination helps the clinician identify the relevant assessments. Brown and Keel and Lavender and colleagues describe this overlap and the unresolved classification questions.

The pursuit of muscularity is not restricted to heterosexual men, competitive athletes, or any particular demographic. Cultural ideals, online fitness content, peer expectations, and sexual or gender minority stress may contribute in different ways. The scientific evidence is heterogeneous and does not support treating every gym practice as a risk factor or every gay man as affected. General appearance-comparison processes are addressed by Social Media and Body Image, a separate EN-10 canonical topic; the present article addresses eating-disorder recognition and care in men. Paslakis (2026) discusses the implications for inclusive clinical services.

What Causes Eating Disorders in Men?

Eating disorders arise through interacting biological, psychological, developmental, and social processes rather than one universal cause. Vulnerabilities can involve genetic and familial factors, anxiety, rigid thinking, perfectionistic tendencies, emotional distress, exposure to appearance pressures, sport or occupational environments, difficult life events, and changes in nutrition that reinforce preoccupation with food. The relative contribution varies by diagnosis and person; associations observed in research should not be presented as single causes. For the cross-population causal framework, see what causes eating disorders. NIMH and the review of sex and gender provide the established biopsychosocial background.

Adolescence, sport, and life transitions

Puberty and adolescence can intensify bodily comparison and concerns about size, leanness, strength, and perceived masculinity. Risk and recognition questions arise in school sports, weight-class or aesthetic sports, strength-training environments, and occupations where fitness standards are visible. Restrictive intake can impair growth and puberty in adolescents. At any age, injury, retirement from sport, changing relationships, and other transitions may change how a disorder is expressed. Sports participation is neither proof of pathology nor protection from it. SAHM provides the strongest directly relevant guidance here for medically assessing young people with restrictive disorders.

Sexual orientation, gender, and intersectional context

Research in sexual minority men describes heterogeneous appearance pressures and vulnerability pathways. Transgender men also require individualized, affirming care, although older studies often fail to capture gender identity adequately. Clinicians should ask how patients describe themselves, identify relevant stressors without assumptions, and distinguish body dissatisfaction, gender-related concerns, dysphoria where relevant, and eating-disorder symptoms. Sexual orientation and gender identity are not diagnoses or explanations by themselves. Brown and Keel and Paslakis identify these as important areas for research and competent care.

Medical Risks: Why Body Size Is Not a Safety Test

Eating disorders can affect the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine, skeletal, neurological, and other systems. Severe restriction can cause low blood pressure, slow heart rate, dizziness, reduced bone strength, hormonal disturbances, fatigue, and dangerous metabolic complications. Purging can contribute to dehydration, electrolyte abnormalities, dental and esophageal injury, and cardiac rhythm risk. Binge-eating disorder may co-occur with cardiometabolic problems, though an individual assessment must separate the eating disorder from unrelated conditions. The NIMH clinical overview summarizes these complications, and NICE calls for medical monitoring according to presentation and risk.

A muscular body, a BMI classified as normal, and a stable appearance provide no guarantee of medical stability. Rapid changes in intake, the degree and duration of malnutrition, symptoms, vital signs, laboratory findings, rate of weight change, and developmental history all matter. In young people, an interrupted growth trajectory can be informative even when weight is not strikingly low. Both SAHM and NICE emphasize assessing clinical severity rather than using BMI alone to determine access to treatment.

Urgent warning signs

Fainting, chest pain, new palpitations, severe weakness, confusion, seizures, major dehydration, vomiting blood, inability to maintain essential intake, serious self-harm risk, or thoughts of suicide require urgent medical evaluation; some warrant emergency services. A person with significant restriction or purging can deteriorate even without dramatic outward changes. The decision about hospitalization or medical stabilization belongs to qualified clinicians who can assess vital signs, heart rhythm, electrolytes, hydration, and overall risk. See the Hub's medical emergency warning signs, alongside NICE guidance on acute risk.

People who have been severely malnourished may need monitored nutritional rehabilitation because metabolic changes can occur during refeeding. Safe restoration of nutrition is a clinical process tailored to medical stability; this article intentionally avoids numerical food targets, compensatory methods, or exercise prescriptions. Prompt assessment protects health while longer-term psychological treatment proceeds.

How Eating Disorders in Men Are Assessed

A comprehensive clinical interview

Assessment usually combines a nonjudgmental conversation about eating patterns, body and muscularity concerns, exercise, binge episodes, loss of control, compensatory behaviors, distress, social functioning, medical history, and developmental or growth history where appropriate. Clinicians also ask about depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, substance use, suicidal thoughts, physical illness, and medications. The purpose is to understand the person's clinical presentation and determine the appropriate diagnosis and level of care. An effective interview invites the person's own language about physique or fitness without treating it as sufficient explanation. APA practice guidance and NICE identification recommendations support this broad approach.

Screening tools and male-sensitive assessment

Brief instruments, such as SCOFF, may flag concerns for additional assessment, but should never be used alone to rule a disorder in or out. Conventional questionnaires can miss muscle-oriented features; measures such as the MOET may add research or clinical context when used by competent professionals, with attention to validation limits. No online score can establish or exclude anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, BED, ARFID, or muscle dysmorphia. NICE explicitly advises against treating a screening instrument as the sole diagnostic method; the 2019 MOET study and 2025 evaluation describe measurement properties rather than standalone diagnosis.

Medical examination and differential diagnosis

A clinician may examine vital signs, weight trajectory in its context, cardiovascular status, hydration and signs of malnutrition, and order relevant laboratory tests or an electrocardiogram depending on risks. Medical causes of appetite or weight change, gastrointestinal illness, endocrine disease, medication effects, and substance-related problems may need evaluation. When nutritional restriction is driven by fear of choking, sensory sensitivity, or a distressing bodily sensation, ARFID and other anxiety or medical explanations deserve consideration rather than assuming a desire for weight loss. Eating-disorder assessment can also identify multiple co-occurring conditions. See how eating disorders are diagnosed.

Evidence-Based Treatment for Men

Men receive treatment for the diagnosed disorder, medical severity, age, preferences, and co-occurring concerns. The strongest broadly applicable approaches combine appropriately indicated psychological treatment, medical assessment and monitoring, and nutritional care; family involvement may be central for adolescents. Care should address muscularity pressures, shame, cultural or sexual-minority stress, and barriers to attendance when relevant. There is a need for more trials specifically powered to assess outcomes in men and gender-diverse populations; the available evidence does not justify withholding standard evidence-based care while waiting for male-only trials. APA, NICE, and Brown and Keel support this diagnosis-centered approach.

Anorexia nervosa and severe restriction

For adults with anorexia nervosa, NICE recommends considering eating-disorder-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT-ED), the Maudsley Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA), or specialist supportive clinical management (SSCM), within multidisciplinary care that includes physical-health monitoring and nutritional rehabilitation. Medication alone is not recommended as treatment for anorexia nervosa. Adolescents may benefit from an evidence-based family approach when appropriate; SAHM identifies family-based treatment as first-line outpatient psychological care for many adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Treatment intensity changes with medical and psychiatric risk. NICE and SAHM provide diagnosis- and age-specific guidance.

Bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder

For adult bulimia nervosa, disorder-focused guided self-help or CBT-ED are established psychological options; decisions depend on severity and individual circumstances. For adult binge eating disorder, NICE recommends guided self-help and, when required, structured CBT-ED. In U.S. practice, medication can be considered for certain diagnoses under professional supervision; prescribing decisions must account for contraindications, co-occurring conditions, and the fact that medications are not interchangeable across eating disorders. Treatment focuses on the actual disorder and distress, not a universal body-weight target. NICE and APA distinguish these pathways.

ARFID and other presentations

ARFID treatment generally addresses the specific drivers of avoidance, nutritional or medical complications, and functional impairment. Depending on age and clinical need, specialized behavioral interventions, exposure-based methods, nutritional support, and family participation may be used. The evidence base for ARFID interventions remains less mature than for several established treatments for bulimia or binge eating disorder. OSFED or mixed presentations require individualized assessment and an evidence-informed treatment plan reflecting the actual symptoms and risks. NIMH describes ARFID and APA situates clinical management within established eating-disorder assessment.

Treatment settings and inclusion

Outpatient treatment is appropriate for many medically stable patients; intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, residential, or inpatient medical and psychiatric care may be needed according to severity. A respectful program should welcome men, explain how groups are organized, accommodate medical and nutritional needs, and have experience addressing muscularity-related symptoms as well as classic eating-disorder psychopathology. Specialized attention to male experiences can improve engagement, but an inclusive, competent general service can also provide effective care. Access barriers and their remedies are reviewed in the systematic synthesis of treatment uptake. Read the Hub's eating disorder treatment guide for the cross-diagnostic care framework.

How to Seek Help if You Think You Have an Eating Disorder

A useful first contact is a primary care clinician, adolescent medicine specialist for a younger patient, or qualified eating-disorder service. Describe behaviors and effects plainly: how meals and activity have changed, whether eating feels out of control or frightening, what happens when routines are disrupted, and any physical symptoms. Mention muscularity concerns directly if that is the main focus. A clinician can assess immediate medical risk and arrange specialized care. You do not need to wait until you reach a particular weight or appear visibly unwell. NICE recommends prompt referral when an eating disorder is suspected.

It is reasonable to ask a treatment service whether its clinicians have experience with men, binge eating, muscularity-oriented pathology, medical monitoring across body sizes, or culturally competent care. A family member or trusted person may help arrange an appointment, communicate concerns, and provide support, while leaving diagnostic and treatment decisions to professionals. Recovery typically includes changes in symptoms, physical health, flexibility around food and movement, social life, and the ability to live without the disorder directing major decisions. See eating disorder recovery.

How to Support a Man or Boy Who May Be Struggling

Start with observations and concern rather than comments about physique. For example, explain that you have noticed distress around meals, withdrawal, dizziness, or training despite illness, and that you want to help arrange professional assessment. Avoid praising weight change as evidence of health, debating whether he “looks sick enough,” or treating his difficulties as a failure of masculinity. Offer practical help with appointments and listen to what makes treatment feel difficult. If the person is a minor, involve caregivers and appropriate clinicians in a way that protects safety and dignity. Urgent physical or suicide-related danger deserves immediate escalation regardless of whether he recognizes an eating disorder.

What Research Still Needs to Establish

Clinical evidence in men has improved, but important gaps remain. Many studies use convenience samples, oversample young university students, or employ measures emphasizing thinness. Diagnostic prevalence and treatment-access estimates may not generalize across ages, race or ethnicity, rural populations, sexual orientation, gender identity, or countries. The muscularity-oriented literature increasingly examines measurement and associations, while longitudinal and intervention studies remain comparatively limited. The 2023 major review, 2025 MOET validation, and 2026 narrative review each identify research priorities or limitations. Claims that one male-specific intervention is universally superior are therefore premature.

Sex and gender should be analyzed carefully: sex-related physiological factors may affect medical risk, while gender roles and social expectations can influence symptom expression, detection, and care. Neither determines an individual's diagnosis. Better studies will include diverse men and gender-diverse people, transparent case definitions, validated muscularity-sensitive measures, clinically meaningful outcomes, and longer follow-up. These are research needs, not reasons to delay current treatment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can men have anorexia even if they are muscular?

Yes. Visible muscle development does not rule out severe restriction or another eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa has specific diagnostic criteria, and atypical anorexia can involve serious restriction without a conventionally low weight. Clinicians assess behavior, medical status, weight trajectory, cognition, and diagnostic criteria together. SAHM explicitly warns about medical severity in atypical presentations.

Are eating disorders in men usually about wanting to be bigger?

No single appearance goal defines male eating disorders. Some men seek thinness, some seek leanness or muscularity, some experience binge eating, and others have food avoidance unrelated to body image. The Brown and Keel review describes this diversity.

Is bodybuilding or tracking food an eating disorder?

Neither activity is a diagnosis. Assessment becomes important when rules are persistently inflexible or distressing, disrupt functioning, reinforce harmful restriction or compensatory behaviors, or cause medical problems. Clinicians consider the entire pattern and context, rather than attaching a diagnosis to a fitness label.

Can a man have an eating disorder at a higher weight?

Yes. Bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, OSFED, and atypical anorexia can occur across a range of body sizes. Weight alone cannot establish or exclude severity. NICE advises clinicians against using BMI as the sole basis for deciding whether to offer treatment.

Why might a screening test miss symptoms in men?

Some instruments focus heavily on thinness-related concerns and may fail to capture muscularity-oriented symptoms adequately. A clinician should ask about actual behaviors and impairment, and may use appropriately validated additional measures. Screening is a preliminary step, not a diagnosis. Murray and colleagues discuss the rationale for a muscularity-oriented measure.

Is muscle dysmorphia an eating disorder?

Muscle dysmorphia is categorized as a presentation of body dysmorphic disorder, within obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. It can coexist with disordered eating or an eating disorder, but requires its own differential assessment. Lavender and colleagues describe the related clinical constructs.

Do men recover from eating disorders?

Recovery is possible. Outcomes depend on diagnosis, severity, duration, access to appropriate care, and many personal and clinical factors. Evidence-based psychological, medical, and nutritional treatment applies to men; a welcoming treatment environment can help engagement. NIMH emphasizes that treatment and recovery are possible.

What should someone do if a male partner or friend refuses help?

Express specific concerns compassionately, invite medical assessment, and offer help finding a provider. Do not rely on weight or appearance to decide whether the risk is real. Seek immediate emergency help for serious medical warning signs, and use locally available crisis services when suicide risk is present.

Are gay and bisexual men at special risk?

Some studies find elevated risk or distinctive pathways in particular sexual-minority samples, but experiences and estimates vary greatly. Orientation alone cannot determine diagnosis or risk. Clinical care should explore an individual's experiences without stereotypes, including minority stress when relevant. See Brown and Keel and Paslakis.

Which type of professional should diagnose an eating disorder?

An appropriately trained mental health or medical clinician should perform a full assessment and coordinate necessary physical-health evaluation. Primary care often provides the first assessment and referral; complex cases may need a multidisciplinary specialist team. NICE explains early assessment and referral.

Related Articles

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2023). Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Eating Disorders. Official guideline and resources.

Breton, É., Juster, R.-P., & Booij, L. (2023). Gender and sex in eating disorders: A narrative review of the current state of knowledge, research gaps, and recommendations. Brain and Behavior, 13, e2871. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2871.

Brown, T. A., & Keel, P. K. (2023). Eating Disorders in Boys and Men. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 19, 177–205. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-080921-074125.

Daugelat, M.-C., Pruccoli, J., Schag, K., & Giel, K. E. (2023). Barriers and facilitators affecting treatment uptake behaviours for patients with eating disorders: A systematic review synthesising patient, caregiver and clinician perspectives. European Eating Disorders Review, 31, 752–768. https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.2999.

Hanss, K., Denning, D. M., Flatt, R. E., et al. (2025). Evaluating the muscularity-oriented eating test: Factor structure and psychometric properties among university athletes and across sexes. Eating Behaviors, 59, 102022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2025.102022.

Lavender, J. M., Brown, T. A., & Murray, S. B. (2017). Men, Muscles, and Eating Disorders: An Overview of Traditional and Muscularity-Oriented Disordered Eating. Current Psychiatry Reports, 19, 32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-017-0787-5.

Murray, S. B., Brown, T. A., Blashill, A. J., et al. (2019). The development and validation of the muscularity-oriented eating test: A novel measure of muscularity-oriented disordered eating. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 52, 1389–1398. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23144.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2017; updated 2020). Eating Disorders: Recognition and Treatment (NG69). Official recommendations.

National Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Eating Disorders: What You Need to Know. Official NIH publication.

Paslakis, G. (2026). Eating Disorders in Boys and Men: A Gender-Critical Narrative Review on Recognition, Stigma, and Treatment. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 59, 1397–1402. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.70085.

Sangha, S., Oliffe, J. L., Kelly, M. T., & McCuaig, F. (2019). Eating Disorders in Males: How Primary Care Providers Can Improve Recognition, Diagnosis, and Treatment. American Journal of Men's Health. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988319857424.

Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. (2022). Medical Management of Restrictive Eating Disorders in Adolescents and Young Adults. Journal of Adolescent Health, 71, 648–654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.08.006.

 
 
bottom of page