Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.

8 papers

Prevalence of eating disorders over the 2000–2018 period: a systematic literature review

Marie Galmiche, Pierre Déchelotte, Grégory Lambert, Marie‐Pierre Tavolacci
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Summary & key facts 2018 1,604 citations

This systematic review looked at studies from 2000–2018 that measured how common eating disorders are. The authors followed PRISMA rules and included 94 studies with accurate diagnoses and 27 studies with broader categories. Across the accurate-diagnosis studies, women had higher rates than men. Point prevalence estimates rose over time from…

Eating Disorders and Behaviors Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders

Review of the burden of eating disorders: mortality, disability, costs, quality of life, and family burden

Daphne van Hoeken, Hans W. Hoek
Current Opinion in Psychiatry Summary & key facts 2020 716 citations

This review found that eating disorders cause a large health and social burden. In 2017 eating disorders accounted for more than 3.3 million healthy years lost worldwide. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa show rising disability, higher death rates (especially after inpatient treatment for anorexia), lower quality of life, higher costs,…

Eating Disorders and Behaviors Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders

The Importance of Creating Habits and Routine

Katherine R Arlinghaus, Craig A Johnston
PubMed Central (PMC) Summary & key facts 2018 87 citations

The article says long-term health changes work best when they become a routine. Routines are repeated behaviors that take time to form and are different from habits that rely on a specific cue. Research and examples in the paper show routines help with things like sleep, family functioning, and keeping…

Eating Disorders and Behaviors Mobile Health and mHealth Applications Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet

Current Discoveries and Future Implications of Eating Disorders

Bing Feng, Jerney Harms, Emily Chen, Peiyu Gao, Pingwen Xu, Yanlin He

This narrative review summarizes what is known about eating disorders, focusing on anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED). The authors say these conditions often start in adolescence or early adulthood, are diagnosed more often in young women, and can harm physical, mental, and social health.…

Eating Disorders and Behaviors Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders

An examination of weight bias among treatment-seeking obese patients with and without binge eating disorder

Rachel D. Barnes, Valentina Ivezaj, Carlos M. Grilo
General Hospital Psychiatry Summary & key facts 2013 32 citations

This paper is a systematic review of research on adults that looked at how eating disorders, body image, emotions, and self-esteem are linked. The authors searched three databases for papers from 2010–2024, screened 1,117 records, and included 6 studies, most of which had mostly female participants. The studies commonly found…

Eating Disorders and Behaviors Obesity and Health Practices Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet

Associations Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Adverse Brain Health Outcomes

Varun Bhave, Carol Oladele, Zsuzsanna Ament, Naruchorn Kijpaisalratana, Alana Jones, Catharine A. Couch, et al.
Neurology Summary & key facts 2024 25 citations

Food processing may be important to brain health in older adults independent of known risk factors and adherence to recommended dietary patterns.

Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling Nutritional Studies and Diet Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet

Dietary Assessment for Weight Management and Health Maintenance

Nutrients Summary & key facts 2023 2 citations

This editorial reviews studies that look at how we measure diets to help manage weight and health. It says diet assessment must go beyond calories and include things like types of fats, gut effects, and emotional or mindful eating. The authors highlight specific study findings, limits of current tools, and…

Diet and metabolism studies Nutritional Studies and Diet Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
Summaries and links are for general information and education only. They are not a substitute for reading the original publication or for professional medical, legal, or other advice. Always refer to the linked source for the full study.