10-year-old children being diagnosed with eating disorders

Children as young as 10 are now being diagnosed with eating disorders in Ireland.

Figures released as part of Eating Disorders Awareness Week show that 1,800 new cases are diagnosed each year.

Today is the first day of Eating Disorders Awareness Week. We will have a special focus on eating disorders throughout the week on our social media - and check out @bodywhys for their work throughout the week.

Eating disorders are about a lot more than food#EDAW2019 pic.twitter.com/xAFmC3vJDi

— Mental Health Reform (@MHReform) February 25, 2019

Support organisation Bodywhys says around 10% of people who contact them are pre-teen.

The association's Harriet Parsons says social media has a role to play.

"I think that generally what's happening is that kids are just growing up faster and they're becoming more susceptible to pressure on how they look to the outside world sooner.

If they have phones in their pockets and if they have access to social media and YouTube and all of that.