Areas of work > Eating disorders

Dietitians have a key role in the management of those suffering from eating disorders. We aim to promote Dietitians working within this field and provide guidance on best practice in this area .  

 
As eating disorders comprise both psychological and physiological components, treatments should combine expertise in both with
health professionals understanding the nutritional and physiological effects these disorders can have. Registered dietitians, registered
with the Health Professions Council, have an essential role within multidisciplinary teams and are involved in the assessment, treatment and monitoring of patients with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Dietetic input should be offered to both inpatients and outpatients as an adjunct to other treatments.

Dietitians are specialised in assessing nutritional requirements and are up to date in latest nutritional information, so can provide
accurate and relevant information for patients including those with additional dietary requirements eg diabetes or food allergy.
As poor eating patterns and unhealthy views surrounding food are primarily symptoms of eating disorders, not the cause, dietary
concerns can be addressed by a dietitian leaving other health professionals to deal with the underlying issues of the eating disorder.

A dietitian can:

• act as a specialist within a multi-disciplinary team
• act as a consultant to other health professionals advising on nutritional aspects of care, appropriate literature to use and
providing training as required
• run nutrition education sessions for patients covering general topics with regards to nutrition and basic physiology
• act as a co-therapist in individual treatments, and in therapy groups where nutrition is a major component eg bulimia nervosa or overeaters groups
• have long-term individual contact with patients
• review patient eating diaries
• design and review nutrition plans for the patient
• monitor weight and amend nutritional plans as appropriate
• liaise with and support families and carers as required. 

The role of the dietitian can be divided into 4 main areas:

Assessment

Dietetic assessment will vary depending on when the patient is being seen and what previous assessment has been carried out eg
dietetic outpatient assessment will be different from the assessment carried out by a dietitian working in a specialist inpatient unit.
Dietetic assessment includes:
• current and previous dietary intake, eating habits and weight history
• other eating disorder behaviour eg purging, use of laxatives and diuretics
• history of weight reducing diets, including family history of dieting
• current nutritional knowledge and dietary rules eg kcalorie counting, times of eating, ritualistic behaviours, food combining, avoidance of fats and fatty foods
• activity level and exercise
• motivation to change and patient’s aims of treatment
• calculation of nutritional requirements for weight maintenance and weight gain (if required)
• treatment plan

Nutrition education

Nutrition education can seem unnecessary and be overlooked for patients with eating disorders as their knowledge and interest
in nutrition can seem vast. However this is a major part of the problem. Patients are often overly concerned with small aspects of
nutrition such as kcalorie counting, avoiding fats or carbohydrates. This can result in completely distorted views on food and nutrition,
and a diet deficient in many nutrients. For some this has been a result of their eating disorder, but for others their poor diets predate
this. A dietitian can help a patient review their current dietary Intake, question their dietary “rules” and provide more accurate
information about nutrition and physiology to help them move towards a nutritionally adequate diet.

Recommendations

Ideally this involves the dietitian and patient working collaboratively to set realistic and achievable diet and weight goals. Goals for
weight gain need to be slower for outpatient than for inpatient treatment. Recommendations should be backed up using results
of nutritional analysis and calculations of nutritional requirements for weight maintenance and weight gain. 
A dietitian will only recommend the use of nasogastric feeding or use of supplementary drinks where this is absolutely
necessary as a patient can quickly become reliant on these dietary props, preferring to use these rather than re-establishing a normal
diet.

Support

Ultimately the role of a dietitian is to help patients learn to trust food again. When patients have followed restrictive or chaotic eating
patterns for a period of time their beliefs about food and nutrition can become very distorted and rigid. Changing poor eating
patterns is very difficult to do, even with very motivated patients. It inevitably means breaking numerous dietary “rules” and, as with
other elements of treatment, involves risk and experimentation. A dietitian can be the best person to instil confidence in patients to
make these changes.

 

American Dietetic Association: Nutrition Intervention in the treatment of Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Eating Disorders not otherwise specified 2001

 

Australian Dietetic Association Guidelines (2002) Treatment of Eating Disorders

 

British Dietetic Association Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Group: guidelines on refeeding 2002. PEN handbook

 

British Dietetic Association. (2006). Briefing paper: A Consensus Statement for Dietitians Working in Eating Disorders

 

National Institute of Clinical Excellence (2004) Eating Disorders: full national guidelines www.nice.org.uk

 

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. (2006) Eating Disorders in Scotland: Recommendations for Management and Treatment www.nhshealthquality.org

 

Royal Collage of Psychiatrists (2005) Guidelines for the Nutritional Management of Anorexia Nervosa

 

Browell K, Fairburn C (Eds) Eating Disorders and Obesity. New York Guildford press. 2nd edition. 2002

 

Bloomfield Steve. Eating Dosorders: Helping your child recover

 

Cooper P, J. Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating: A guide to recovery

 

Fairburn Christopher Overcoming Binge Eating. - Guilford Press

 

Langley Jenny. Boys get Anorexia too. - Lucky Duck Publishing

 

Schmidt and Treasure . Getting bBetter Bit(e) by Bit(e)- A survival kit for sufferers of bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorders. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

 

Treasure J. Anorexia Nervosa: a survival guide for families, friends and sufferers. - Psychology Press

 

International Journal of Eating Disorders

 

European Eating Disorders review

 

Eating Disorders: The journal of treatment and prevention

 

British Journal of Psychiatry

 

International Journal of Obesity

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Web Sites

 

www.b-eat.co.uk. Eating Disorders Association

 

www.iop.kcl.ac.uk Royal college of psychiatry

 

www.SNDRI.gcal.ac.uk Scottish Nutrition and Diet Resource Initiative (SNDRI) for up to date evidence based resources for Dietitians to use with Eating Disorder patients, developed by Dietitians with Psychology involvement.