The National Association of Eating Disorders (NEDA) will hold a walk in Burlington, Vermont, on Sunday, April 17, to raise awareness of eating disorders and funds for research and treatment.

Registration for the walk starts at 9 a.m. at Royall Tyler Theatre on the University of Vermont campus. The walk begins at 10 at the theater, loops from the UVM campus to downtown Burlington back to UVM, and ends at 11:30. Participants can also register online at http://www.nedawalk.org/burlington2016.

Eating disorders are serious, life-threatening illnesses that impact millions of Americans every year but are under-researched, under-funded and under-treated.

• Thirty million Americans -- 20 million women and 10 million men -- suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, or EDNOS (for eating disorder not otherwise specified), according to NEDA.
• People with eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, and almost 50 percent meet the clinical criteria for depression, according to the National Association of Anorexia and Other Associated Disorders (ANAD). Eating disorders also commonly co-occur with anxiety disorders and substance abuse.
• Only about one in 10 people with eating disorders receive treatment, according to ANAD.
• While the number of Americans with eating disorders far exceeds those with Alzheimer’s disease, autism and schizophrenia, research funding from the National Institutes of Health is a fraction of what it is for those illnesses, according to a NEDA analysis.

"Eating disorders are very isolating illnesses,” said Jess Cohen, a UVM senior in recovery from an eating disorder who is coordinating the NEDA walk. “When eating disorders are not receiving the awareness they need, people who are struggling can feel even more isolated and not have access to adequate resources. This walk and others like it across the country are designed to increase awareness and understanding of eating disorders and help raise funds to expand access to treatment and do research that could lead to more effective treatment."

College students particularly vulnerable  

College-aged students are particularly vulnerable to eating disorders.

Eighty-six percent of those with eating disorders report onset of the illness by age 20, and 43 percent between ages 16 and 20, according to a 10-year ANAD study published in 2000. A study at one college found that there was an increase in the rate of eating disorders for males from 7.9 percent to 25 percent and 23.4 percent to 32.6 percent for females over a 13-year period.  

“My focus is on student mental health at UVM, so I’m very aware of how pervasive and serious eating disorders are on college campuses,” said Annie Valentine, a health educator in the university's Center for Health and Wellbeing. “It is important not only to raise awareness of eating disorders but to educate students on how they develop and what we can do to prevent them.”

Burlington’s NEDA walk is one of dozens being held around the country this spring. This is the third NEDA walk held in Burlington.