Eating disorders refer to a relationship with food that has become pathological due to overeating and/or undereating, or to distorted perceptions of food. The issues examined include episodes of binge eating, self-induced vomiting, eating in secret, and a fear of starting to eat for fear of being unable to stop. These disorders are most common during adolescence and among women. Despite the media attention they receive, they therefore affect only a small proportion of young people and did not increase between 2005 and 2010. Social factors are found to be significant in the onset of the four disorders studied, but appear to be less influential than psychological distress. [author’s abstract]