Eating Disorders · Texas behavioral health news
Gender-Transition Treatment Doesn’t Seem to Improve Eating Disorders in Youths, Finnish Study Finds - Benjamin Ryan | Substack
Eating Disorders (Google News) · June 5, 2026
In plain language
A long-term study of youth at Finnish gender clinics suggests that undergoing gender-transition treatment does not reduce the need for eating disorder care. Researchers found that young people with gender dysphoria are about three times more likely to have an eating disorder compared to their peers. While some experts once believed medical transition might help resolve body image issues like anorexia or bulimia, this data showed no major difference in eating disorder rates between those who transitioned and those who did not. Instead, the best predictor of future eating disorder symptoms was having a history of them before visiting a gender clinic.
AI-generated summary of the source article. Not medical advice.
Key takeaways
- Youth with gender dysphoria are three times more likely to experience eating disorders than the general population.
- Medical gender-transition interventions were not associated with a lower rate of eating disorder diagnoses in the long term.
- The strongest predictor of needing eating disorder treatment was having a previous history of an eating disorder.
- Researchers noted that gender dysphoria and eating disorders both involve significant distress and unhappiness regarding one's body.
- The study analyzed health records for over 2,000 young people who visited Finnish gender clinics between 1996 and 2019.
Gender-Transition Treatment Doesn’t Seem to Improve Eating Disorders in Youths, Finnish Study Finds Benjamin Ryan | Substack
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