Category: eating disorders

The widespread perception that only women have eating disorders is preventing men with these problems from getting the help and support they need, indicates a small study. Estimates suggest that around 1 in 250 women and 1 in 2000 men in the UK have anorexia nervosa, one of the four recognized types of eating disorder — the others being bulimia nervosa; binge eating disorder; and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS).

Making snap decisions usually means following your initial reaction — going with your gut. But some adolescents are more likely to heed outside influences, leaving them vulnerable to risky behaviors. A new study is part of a larger investigation of how teens make decisions based on body sensations and could help design prevention and treatment that hones in on risky decision-making.

A grant to study a new treatment for binge eating disorder has been awarded, and research will cover a three-year period. The new treatment helps patients to identify specific patterns which trigger their binge eating and relies on several strategies to change eating in high risk moments.

Oxytocin, also known as the ‘love hormone,’ could provide a new treatment for anorexia nervosa, according to new research. The study found that oxytocin alters anorexic patients’ tendencies to fixate on images of high calorie foods, and larger body shape. The findings follow an earlier study by the same group showing that oxytocin changed patients’ responses to angry and disgusted faces.

Two strains of rats, cans of vanilla frosting and a theory have brought science a step closer to finding the genetic causes of binge eating and eventually a treatment. Females are primarily effected by eating disorders with a ratio of only one male for every ten women. These disorders can last for years. During this timeframe, effective treatment is critical since eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. And if it doesn’t kill, the damage it wreaks can be irreversible. By using different types of female rats, the scientists have effectively reduced the high number of genes that could be implicated in a binge eating disorder, and dramatically narrowed the areas for further research.

New research published today shows that depression and impulse control disorders (eating disorders in particular) are independently associated with diabetes diagnosis, after adjustment for presence of other mental disorders.