In a country where centuries-old traditions coexist with the rush of modern life, a quiet phenomenon is unfolding among Egypt’s youth. Eating disorders (EDs), serious mental health conditions characterized by unhealthy eating habits, such as extreme dieting, overeating, or food restriction, often driven by an unhealthy obsession with body weight or shape, are on the rise. As of 2024, an estimated 13.3 percent of Egyptian youth, aged 15 to 23, are now battling EDs, a study published in The Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery revealed. Egyptian and broader Arab cultures have traditionally celebrated curvier body types, linking them to fertility and prosperity, according to a 1990 study about cultural factors in eating disorders and body shape preferences among Arabs. With sweeping sociocultural shifts across the Arab world, fueled by greater exposure to Western media, evolving beauty ideals, and an emphasis on thinness or being ‘skinny,’ particularly among young women, has emerged. The cultural shift has triggered a surge in body dissatisfaction, restrictive dieting, and disordered eating behaviors, with females being most at risk, exposing gaps in a strained mental health system and deep-rooted cultural stigmas surrounding psychotherapy, as…
Egypt’s Youth Battle Eating Disorders Amid Shifting Beauty Ideals
April 29, 2025
By Nadine Tag
Journalist
