John Prescott's admission yesterday that he was suffering from bulimia while he was Deputy Prime Minister has been praised as "brave" by experts on the eating disorder.

Mr Prescott, 69, confessed he "took refuge" in binge eating on food before vomiting it up during the years he served in Tony Blair's government.

Although he has been free of the disorder for more than a year, he said he hoped his admission would strengthen other sufferers.

"I'm sure it was to do with stress", he said. "I wasn't doing it all the time, and there would be gaps of weeks and months, but during those years when we first got into power, I let things get on top of me and took refuge in stuffing my face."

Mr Prescott said he was aware he did not fit the bill of the "typical" bulimia sufferer. He said: "People normally associate it with young women, models trying to keep their weight down or women in stressful situations, like Princess Diana."

Eventually, he sought help for his condition and was referred to a consultant. "I turned up and found his waiting room full of young women. I was the only man there. I felt a right twerp."

Dr Ty Glover, a consultant psychiatrist, said Mr Prescott's frankness would help other men with eating disorders. "It's a hugely brave and courageous thing for John to come out and admit that he was a bulimia sufferer," he said.

"It's hard enough for a young girl to confess to, but for a high-profile male politician approaching 70, it's especially impressive."

Mr Prescott said his bulimia dated from his appointment to Labour's shadow cabinet in the 1980s and the long hours he put in drafting policy documents.

He would gorge on burgers, chocolate, fish and chips, crisps or trifles. Sometimes he would drink a whole tin of Carnation evaporated milk "just for the taste".

Although he tried to keep his eating disorder secret from his wife Pauline, she realised what was wrong and persuaded him to see a consultant, who confirmed he had bulimia nervosa.

Mr Prescott, who will retire as an MP at the next election, is now supporting an NHS campaign to raise awareness of eating disorders.

He details his battle with the eating disorder in his autobiography, entitled Prezza: Pulling No Punches, which will be published next month.

More than one million people in the UK are thought to suffer from an eating disorder such as bulimia or anorexia, 90% of whom are women.

Dr Glover said: "Reading his comments shows that he displayed the classic traits of bulimics: the secrecy, the shame and the breakdown of trust with family.

"Bulimia can be brought on by work stress. For some people, they use drink, drugs or cigarettes as an emotional crutch. For John, it was food.

"It's believed that one in 10 bulimia sufferers are men, but I have never in all my years as a consultant specialising in eating disorders come across a man this old suffering from bulimia.

"It seriously makes me think that maybe we're missing a whole audience of middle-aged men who are too scared to admit they have a problem.

"John's bravery will hopefully encourage more men to come forward to seek treatment."

Susan Ringwood, chief executive of Beat, the UK's leading eating disorder charity, warned against trivialising or ridiculing Mr Prescott's bulimia, pointing out that serious eating disorders have the highest death rate of any mental illness.

She said: "We need to get past the stigma associated with an eating disorder."