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Early recognition and treatment of disturbed eating behavior is crucial. It can develop into a full-blown eating disorder through various mechanisms. Often this process can be interrupted at an early stage. Training of primary care professionals is essential for this because they often do not relate nonspecific physical or psychological symptoms to disturbed eating behavior. This often results in years of delay in diagnosis and initiation of counseling. This article provides diagnostic tools and practical guidelines for collaboration in primary care, based on a general practitioner as director, a specialized dietician and a mental health professional (the ‘triad’). This can contribute to improved care, sometimes resulting in a scaling down of mental health referral. This relatively simple collaborative structure is not significantly different, nor does it have to take more time, than care provided by a general practitioner to other vulnerable patient groups

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.