Eating Disorders in Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

The dominant historical view of eating disorders has been that they primarily affect Western White and metropolitan populations, and within these, particularly young women. However, evidence is growing that depicts the characteristics and prevalence of disordered eating among other groups around the world. This chapter addresses the questions of whether disordered eating is experienced among Indigenous populations, how common this is relative to colonizing majority populations, and how disordered eating is expressed in these groups. We provide a comprehensive review of historical and more recent studies conducted in colonized countries with a minority Indigenous population. Most studies were conducted in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand; however, studies were also located with Indigenous populations from other countries such as Norway, Guam, India, and Colombia. Overall, there appeared to be an elevated risk for disordered eating among Indigenous groups compared to the colonizing majority ethnic group – however this was not uniform. A consistent correlate of increased eating disorder risk was higher body mass index among Indigenous groups; however there was a lack of consideration of other potential explanatory factors. We recommend that future research addresses two major limitations within this field of inquiry, namely, the lack of studies designed with a specific intention to understand eating patterns and weight and shape concerns among Indigenous peoples (secondary data analysis of population-based data instead being common), and a lack of consultation with local Indigenous communities and culturally sensitive adjustment of protocols.