Over 13 months, 206 children under 12 years were treated for an eating disorder in Britain and Ir... Eating disorder in six-yea

Eating disorders commonly affect adolescents and young adults but until now it has been unclear how many young children are diagnosed and treated.

Researchers at the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit asked 2,600 psychiatrists and paediatricians how many eating disorders they had diagnosed in children aged five to 12 years.

From the results they estimated that 3.5 children in every 100,000 in the UK are treated for an eating disorder, including anorexia, bulimia and binge eating.

At the extreme end of the spectrum, one six-year-old girl presented to a paediatrician with food avoidance, excessive exercising and fear of weight gain but had not been diagnosed with anorexia because she was not severely underweight.

Initial findings showed that around 60% of the children had now improved but the researchers will be doing a more accurate follow-up study in a year's time.

Study leader Dr Dasha Nicholls, who is child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Eating Disorders Unit in Great Ormond Street Hospital said each child was different.

"Children are conscious of their bodies so those factors do come into it but the strongest influence in any mental health disorder is genetic and then there are psychological and social factors that come into play."

She added that doctors need to be aware that eating disorders can occur in young children because they are unlikely to go away without intervention.

"Children get sicker quicker, often they stop eating and drinking at the same time and because they are small they show signs of starvation very quickly."

She said children with eating disorders commonly start by cutting out favourite foods such as sweets and crisps but other signs include becoming withdrawn.

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