The Eating Disorders Association, known as beat since February 2007, is the major British medical charity in the area of eating disorders. It is dedicated to helping people with anorexia nervosa, bulimia, binge eating disorder and other eating disorders, and providing information to the public about these conditions.
The charity was founded in 1989 from the amalgamation of the existing UK charities, Anorexic Aid and Anorexic Family Aid. The Society for the Advancement of Research into Anorexia merged with the Eating Disorders Association in 1992.[1]
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The charity runs two national helplines, one for adults and one for people under 25. The charity's website includes messageboards, a young persons section and a HelpFinder directory. It received 3.3 million hits in March 2007, after the charity's relaunch under the name "beat". The charity also runs conferences, awards and training events. It is involved in lobbying the UK government on issues relating to eating disorders and raising the profile of eating disorders in the media.
The charity was a runner up in the healthcare and medical research section of the UK Charity Awards 2007.[2] It also received the national Wellbeing Award of the Children and Young People's Services Awards 2007[3] for its work in developing a forum for young people, and in particular for the charity's active involvement of young people in informing its work, via the forum.