Ever experienced an eating disorder? Kua mate mai anō tētahi mate kai?
Please take our survey to help us understand more about these devastating illnesses & make a genuine contribution to the diagnosis, management & treatment of eating disorders.
Volunteers Needed for a Control Group If you are 16 years or old, have never experienced an eating disorder, you can help!
Please complete our survey. If you are eligible we will send you a spit kit to provide a DNA sample.
We will compare the differences in the genetic code of people with and without eating disorders, but we need a control group to do this.
Nau mai ki tā mātau paetukutuku EDGI
We welcome and accept inquiries, volunteers, and participation from anyone including those in the Rainbow Community, for more information see our FAQs
NZ researchers seeking 3,500+ volunteers for world’s largest eating disorders genetics investigation
The Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI) is the world's largest genetic investigation into eating disorders ever performed. The local arm of EDGI aims to identify hundreds of genes that influence a person’s risk of developing anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa & binge-eating disorder in order to improve treatments, &, ultimately save lives.
Have you, or has someone you care about ever experienced Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)?
We are currently inviting people to tell us which ARFID research topics are most important to them to help us guide future research that is meaningful to the ARFID community.
The study is open to anyone who has experienced ARFID personally, or their whānau and is at least 16 years of age. A clinical ARFID diagnosis is not required. You must also be currently residing in New Zealand.
To read more about the study, please click here for the participant information sheet.
Help us meet our target of more than 3,500 NZ participants by volunteering for our study today
Currently recruited
out of 3,500 New Zealand Participants
To learn more about EDGI and the most frequently asked questions regarding the study, watch our video of EDGI’s Principal Investigator, Professor Cynthia Bulik
EDGI NZ news & participant stories

The relationship between night eating syndrome and other eating disorders
Night eating syndrome (NES) was formally recognised as an eating...

What is the connection between ADHD and eating disorders?
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) starts early in life ....

The great underfunding of eating disorders research
Australian and UK researchers (1) have recently reported on the strikingly low funding provided...

Surge of people reaching out for eating disorder help
There is mounting information to show that more people are experiencing disordered eating, especially in the face of...

Bringing binge eating disorder out of the shadows
Though often in the news, eating disorders are poorly understood....