There seems to be a connection between disordered eating patterns and gender-related distress

In a review¹ of 20 publications, a consistent theme emerged: transgender youth (aged 8 to 25) engaged in food restriction and/or compensatory eating behaviors to prevent puberty onset or progression.

The review suggested that, for some transgender youth, these behaviors may be understood as a means of coping with gender-related distress. However, the exact nature of this observed connection is uncertain.

1. Coelho, J., Suen, J., Clark, B., Marshall, S., Geller, J. & Lam, P.-Y. (2019). Eating Disorder Diagnoses and Symptom Presentation in Transgender Youth: a Scoping Review. Current Psychiatry Reports 21. [Link] ↩︎