Study Finds Bisexual Men More Prone to Eating Disorders than Gay or Straight Men

A University of California San Francisco study finds that bisexual men are more likely to suffer from eating disorders than heterosexual or gay men.

What We Know:

• Over the past few years, scientists have been studying the prevalence of eating disorders within the LGBTQ+ community. A 2018 study by the National Eating Disorder Association found that more than half of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer young people between the ages of 13 and 24 have been diagnosed with an eating disorder at some point in their life.
• However, just last month, a study published in the journal Eating and Weight Disorders found that bisexual men are even more susceptible to unhealthy eating habits. The study sampled over 4,500 LGBTQ adults, who were examined via a questionnaire to determine their history of eating disorders. Overall, 3.2 percent of bisexual males had been clinically diagnosed with eating disorders, compared to 2.9 percent of gay men.
• A quarter of bisexual men reported having fasted for more than eight hours for aesthetic purposes, compared to 20% of gay men. 80% of bisexual men reported that they “felt fat,” and 77% had a strong desire to lose weight, compared to 79% and 75% of gay men, respectively.
• Dr. Jason Nagata, a professor of pediatric medicine at UCSF, discovers something else from the findings that suggest scientists should reconsider the way they study the health of the LGBTQ+ community. “Prior studies on eating disorders in sexual minority men have grouped gay and bisexual men together, so it was difficult to understand the unique characteristics in bisexual men,” he says, referring to the need to conduct eating disorder research on various sexual identities independently.

Putting the results into context tells us that perhaps stress among marginalized groups are the cause of these health issues. “LGBTQ people experience stigma and discrimination, and stressors can definitely lead to disordered eating,” Nagata said. “For bi men, they’re not just facing stigma from the straight community but from the gay community, as well.”