The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has studied people with both substance use disorders (SUD) and eating disorders (ED), and has found that somewhere around 50 percent of individuals who present for eating disorder treatment meet criteria for a substance use disorder, versus 9 percent of the general population who meet criteria for a SUD. The same study found that approximately 35 percent of people who use drugs problematically meet criteria for an eating disorder (CASA, 2003). While the diagnostic criteria are similar for SUD and ED, there are important differences in treatment and recovery.
