A recent study from Modern Health shows that employees struggling with disordered eating can see real improvements in just six months, including better mental health and daily functioning.
Some of the issues that most impact your workforce are also the hardest to spot in your benefits data. Disordered eating is a prime example. It often flies under the radar in claims and utilization reports, and many employees don't realize their struggles are tied to mental health or know where to get help.
New research from Modern Health sheds light on just how common disordered eating is among working adults, how it connects with depression, anxiety, and job performance, and what effective support actually looks like.
These terms get used interchangeably, but they describe different points on a spectrum, and knowing the difference matters when you're designing benefits.
Eating disorders (EDs) are clinically diagnosed conditions such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder that meet specific diagnostic criteria and often require structured clinical treatment.
Disordered eating covers a wider range of harmful or irregular eating behaviors, like restriction, emotional eating, rigid food rules, or chronic dieting. These behaviors may not meet the threshold for a clinical diagnosis, but they can still meaningfully affect someone's health, functioning, and quality of life.
Because disordered eating exists on a spectrum, with subclinical symptoms at one end and acute clinical conditions at the other, effective support needs to be designed to meet employees at every point along it, not just those who have already reached a crisis.
"Many people experience significant distress around food and eating without ever receiving a formal diagnosis, which means they're also less likely to seek or receive care," explains Dr. Mary Odafe, Clinical Psychologist and Clinical and Scientific Affairs Liaison, Modern Health. "From a benefits perspective, that's precisely where early, accessible support can change the trajectory."
Eating disorders affect nearly 8% of the global population, a number that has nearly doubled since the early 2000s. For employees experiencing disordered eating more broadly, the prevalence is higher still, and far less likely to surface in your benefits data.
These issues don't follow a set pattern. They show up across every demographic, job role, and industry. Because disordered eating is so closely linked to mental health, it tends to intensify alongside stressors that are common in working populations. Researchers have identified several risk factors, including:
Many employees with disordered eating don't recognize it as a mental health concern, which means they're unlikely to seek help through traditional channels, and your utilization data is probably underrepresenting the real need.
Research gives us the clearest economic picture for clinical eating disorders, and the numbers are significant. A study from Harvard's STRIPED program and Deloitte Access Economics estimates the annual economic burden of eating disorders at approximately $65 billion in the U.S., with roughly 75% attributable to productivity losses:
People with eating disorders also tend to have health care costs approximately 48% higher than the general population. Because disordered eating exists on a continuum with clinical eating disorders and can progress without early support, these figures offer a meaningful signal of what's at stake when eating-related concerns go unaddressed across the workforce.
There's also a cost logic to early intervention that goes beyond avoiding the worst outcomes. Benefits programs that can identify and support employees with subclinical disordered eating before symptoms escalate reduce the likelihood of costlier, higher-acuity care down the line. Matching employees to the right level of support at the right time isn't just good clinical practice; it's a more sustainable use of your benefits investment.
Modern Health conducted a longitudinal study to examine whether an employer-sponsored digital mental health platform could improve outcomes for employees with disordered eating symptoms.
The study followed 147 working adults enrolled in an employer-sponsored digital mental health platform who had elevated anxiety and/or depression symptoms at recruitment and had used the platform at least once during the study period.
At baseline, rates of disordered eating behaviors were high:
After six months, participants saw meaningful improvements across the board on average. Average disordered eating symptom scores fell below the threshold for moderate disordered eating, and binge eating, restricting, and excessive exercise were each significantly reduced on average.
Nearly 60% of participants reduced their disordered eating symptoms, and the impact didn't stop there. For those same employees, depression, anxiety, and daily functioning improved as well, underscoring just how interconnected these conditions are.
One finding deserves particular attention: Participants were not seeking eating disorder-specific support, yet achieved meaningful gains that extended beyond the concerns that brought them to the platform.
"What these findings tell us is that when employees have access to flexible, multi-modal mental health support, the benefits extend across interconnected conditions, even ones they may not have named when they first sought care," shares Dr. Odafe.
"For many employees with more moderate needs, entering a separate eating disorder program isn't required to make a meaningful difference."
Disordered eating presents across a wide spectrum, from occasional stress-driven habits to clinical conditions requiring intensive care. One of the most important things a benefits program can do is reach employees at the mild and moderate end of that spectrum, before symptoms intensify and before the need for higher-acuity care emerges.
An adaptive care approach, one that matches employees to the right level of support based on their needs and adjusts as those needs change, is especially well-suited to a condition like this, where symptoms often develop gradually, stigma can delay help-seeking, and the appropriate level of care may shift over time.
The most effective programs tend to share these characteristics:
Self-guided digital tools for employees who prefer to explore on their own; coaching for those looking to build sustainable habits; therapy for clinical symptom reduction; and coordinated access to specialty care for those who need intensive, condition-specific treatment. Critically, this includes lower-barrier entry points: resources and support accessible to employees with mild or moderate concerns, not just those who have already reached a clinical threshold.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) each address different dimensions of how disordered eating develops and persists, and are among the most well-supported modalities for this population.
Identity, including race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic background, shapes how employees experience disordered eating and their comfort seeking help. Access to providers who reflect that diversity and bring cultural humility to their practice meaningfully reduces barriers to engagement.
Consistent support across the care journey, including proactive outreach, warm handoffs to specialty care, benefits navigation, and ongoing engagement through transitions, helps ensure employees receive the right level of care at every stage.
Disordered eating is treatable, and with the right support in place, employees can and do recover.
What Modern Health's research makes clear is that employees experiencing disordered eating symptoms can make meaningful progress within a flexible mental health benefit that offers multiple paths to support. In this study, improvements extended beyond disordered eating symptoms alone, with participants also reporting reduced anxiety, depression, and functional impairment over time on average.
"These findings reinforce something we see in clinical practice: the earlier support is available, the better the outcomes," explains Dr. Odafe. "When employees can access care before symptoms escalate, through whatever door makes sense for them, symptom reduction is not only possible, it's likely."
Disordered eating may not show up in your utilization reports today, but it is almost certainly present in your workforce. Benefits strategies that make mental health support easier to access across a range of needs are better positioned to support employee well-being and long-term organizational health.
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