Eating Disorders and Diabetes
Background: The prevalence of eating (ED) disorders among young females with type 1 diabetes is 2-3 times higher compared to their peers without diabetes. This comorbidity is associated with poor glycemic control and increased rates of morbidity and mortality. Yet, there is a lack of knowledge about how to prevent EDs in individuals with type 1 diabetes.
Aims: This project aims to investigate the effect of the body acceptance- and ED prevention program Diabetes Body Project compared to a psychoeducational control condition over 2-years of follow-up in a multi-site RCT.
Methods: 293 young females with type 1 diabetes aged 14-35 years across four sites in three countries (Norway, the Netherlands, and USA) participate in the study.
Outcomes: Main outcomes include ED risk factors (body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization, negative affect, and dietary restraint), eating disorder symptoms, eating disorder onset, HbA1c and time-in-range (TIR), diabetes distress, and diabetes-specific quality of life.
News from 2024:
The first empirical paper was published in Diabetes Care, on the acute effects of the intervention. The Diabetes Body Project produced significantly larger acute effects with small to medium effect sizes compared with educational controls and has potential for broad implementation.
The Diabetes Body Project acute effects were also presented in a poster at the 2024 ISPAD meeting in Lisbon, Portugal.
Read more: www.bodyproject.no/diabetes
Publications 2025:
The data collection, including all five assessments over a 2-year follow-up, was completed at all sites during 2025. A total of three papers have so far emerged from the project, and more papers are in progress. Severina Haugvik, the Norwegian PhD-candidate in the project, submitted her PhD in December 2025.