Binge-eating disorder may not be as well known as other disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, but it’s actually the most common eating disorder in the United States. Unfortunately, a new study has suggested that it's also linked to a broad range of other illnesses affecting both our mental and physical health.

Individuals with BED had a 2.5 times greater risk of also having an endocrine disorder and a 1.9 times increased risk of a circulatory system disorder. Obese people with BED had a 1.5 times increased risk of having a respiratory disease and a 2.6 times increased risk of having a gastrointestinal disease than those who were not obese.

"We encourage clinicians to 'have the conversation' about BED with their patients. Accurate screening and detection can bring BED out of the shadows and get people the treatment they deserve," said senior study author Dr. Cynthia Bulik, as reported by Medical Xpress.

According to the National Eating Disorder Association, BED is an eating disorder that is characterized by recurrent episodes of eating large quantities of food. This binge eating is often done quickly and to the point of extreme discomfort. In addition, binge eaters may experience feelings of loss of control during the binge, and shame, distress or guilt afterwards. Unlike bulimia, they may not regularly use unhealthy compensatory measures (e.g., purging) to counter the binge eating.

For the report, the team used health information of 9.350 people who were 95 percent female. The average age at the time the information was taken was 29. The diagnoses were given by specially trained clinicians. Based on this data, the team found the following conditions to be linked to BED:

Neurologic diseases:

Headaches, migraine, epilepsy, sleep apnea

Infectious and parasitic diseases:

Colitis, gastroenteritis, viral infection, genital warts

Immune system disorders:

Sarcoidosis, hyperimmunglobulin E (IgE)-syndrome

Respiratory diseases:

Tonsillitis, acute respiratory infection, asthma

Gastrointestinal disorders:

Gallstones, appendicitis, dyspepsia, gastritis

Skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders:

Dermatitis, hives, eczema, psoriasis

Musculoskeletal system and connective tissues diseases:

Lumbago (low back pain), joint pain, internal derangement of knee

Genitourinary system disease:

Kidney inflammation, kidney stone, kidney infection, urinary tract infection, ureter stone

Circulatory system diseases:

Hypertension, tachycardia, pulmonary embolism, cardiac arrhythmia

Endocrine system diseases:

Polycystic ovarian syndrome, hyperthyroidism, thyrotoxicosis, autoimmune thyroiditis

Congenital malformations:

Congenital non-neoplastic nevus, congenital malformation of the breast, prominent ear, congenital heart defect

Injury, poisoning, and external causes of morbidity and mortality (excluding suicide):

Fall-related accidents, concussion, sprain of ankle

Source: Thornton LM, Watson HJ, Jangmo A, et al. Binge-eating disorder in the Swedish national registers: Somatic comorbidity. International Journal of Eating Disorders . 2016

Read More:

Where Binge Eating Lives In The Brain: Suppressing Certain Neurons May Improve Eating Disorder Treatments: Read Here

Eating Disorders: Apple-Shaped Body Shape May Predict Risk For Binge Eating: Read Here