First National CDC Data: 40.5% of U.S. High School Students Reported Binge Eating in the Past Month
An analysis of the 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) supplement on October 15 found that 40.5% of U.S. high school students reported binge eating on at least 1 day in the past 30 days — eating an unusually large amount of food while feeling a loss of control over eating. It is the first time the biennial YRBS, conducted since 1991, has included a binge eating item, and the first nationally representative data on disordered eating behaviors the survey has collected since 2013. STAT News and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health both reported the release on October 15.
The survey covered 10,710 students in grades 9-12 at public and private schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, of whom 6,898 provided valid responses to the binge eating question. Overall, 17.2% of students reported binge eating on 3 or more days in the past 30 days. The share was higher among female students (18.6%) than male students (15.9%), and higher among Hispanic (20.5%), Black (18.7%) and multiracial (19.6%) students than among White (14.6%) and Middle Eastern or North African (9.9%) students. No statistically significant differences were observed by grade level.
Students who used social media hourly or more had a higher prevalence of binge eating on 3 or more days than those who used it once a day or less (22.8% versus 12.9%; adjusted prevalence ratio 1.70). The prevalence was also higher among students reporting poor mental health (27.2% versus 14.0%), persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past 12 months (25.4% versus 12.8%), and having seriously considered attempting suicide (27.1% versus 15.3%). The associations were observed among both female and male students. Co-author Ariel Beccia, a researcher at Boston Children's Hospital, told STAT the size of the figures was alarming.
The report appears in the MMWR Supplements. The authors said the first national estimates could guide efforts to expand surveillance of binge eating among adolescents, identify disproportionately affected groups, and support future intervention research.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿一所高中的学校午餐厨房正在制作卷饼（资料图）。A school lunch kitchen at a high school in Arlington, Virginia, prepares wraps (file photo). Photo: Bob Nichols / USDA, public domain (CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons).
