The Canarian Health Service (SCS) has specialized units to address Eating Disorders (EDs), underscoring the importance of prevention through awareness campaigns and the promotion of healthy lifestyles among the Canarian population. Specialists caution against seasonal messages, particularly during summer, that promote diets and distort body image perception.
In the past year, 2025, SCS professionals provided care to a total of 1,100 patients, recording approximately 7,410 consultations related to EDs. The General Directorate of Public Health within the SCS drives preventive actions through initiatives like 'Healthy Life Circles' and the 'School Canteens' program, disseminated via the Canarias Saludable platform, offering nutritional information.
Secondary prevention focuses on early diagnosis and coordination across different care levels. Primary Care, involving pediatricians, family doctors, and nurses, plays a crucial role in early detection, conducting initial assessments and referring patients to hospital resources when necessary.
The General Directorate of Mental Health and Addictions within the SCS issues practical recommendations for families, such as avoiding comments about weight or physical appearance, not promoting restrictive diets without professional supervision, and fostering a balanced relationship with food, exercise, and body image.
During this legislative term, the ED Unit at Juan Carlos I Hospital, affiliated with the University Hospital of Gran Canaria Doctor Negrín, was established. Complementing this, a Day Hospital for this condition has been launched, with a capacity for twenty patients and a multidisciplinary team of eleven professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, and nurses. In the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the University Hospital of the Canary Islands (HUC) offers outpatient and inpatient care through its Program for individuals with EDs, and a Day Hospital is planned for the Specialties Care Center of La Orotava. These resources aim to reduce the need for patients to travel to the mainland for more severe cases.
The prevalence of EDs in the Canary Islands is estimated at around four percent of the adolescent population, a figure comparable to other autonomous communities, justifying the provision of specialized resources. The predominant patient profile in the Mental Health Network, according to data from the Canary Islands Psychiatric Case Registry (RECAP), consists of adolescent females (aged thirteen to eighteen) and young adult women (aged nineteen to forty).
EDs are mental health disorders characterized by persistent disturbances in eating behavior and thoughts and concerns related to food, weight, or body image, which can lead to significant deterioration in physical, psychological, and social health. Their origin is multifactorial, involving genetic, biological, psychological, familial, and sociocultural factors, with a significant socio-health impact that makes early detection and treatment essential.
The most common types include Binge Eating Disorder, characterized by consuming large amounts of food in short periods followed by feelings of guilt; Bulimia Nervosa, which combines binges with inappropriate compensatory behaviors like vomiting or excessive exercise; and Anorexia Nervosa, defined by the refusal to maintain a normal body weight, intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted body image, with restrictive and purging subtypes.
