The University of Malta’s faculty for social wellbeing has conducted a survey of a few hundred people on the issue of eating disorders. According to their findings, a large portion of the island’s population has no control over what and how they eat. The University study also suggests that the Maltese are yet to improve in their recognition of the symptoms of such mental disorders. Eating disorders have become increasingly more common in the 21st century as societal pressure mounts on young people to comply with body image standards and norms.
When asked about this category of mental health issues, 93% of the public recognised or at least said it had heard of eating disorders such as Bulimia, Anorexia and Obesity and of course binge eating. 41.7% replied ‘yes’ when asked if they ever worried they lost control over how much they eat. But concerns were raised particularly when it came to the category of under 18s who it seems had higher rates of replying ‘yes’ to this question. Furthermore 14% of all those asked stated that they had (at some point) made themselves vomit after eating too much. This survey is considered representative of the island’s population and asked under 18s to those aged 50 on their eating habits.