Eating Disorders

THURSDAY, Aug. 4 — Women with the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia may take a bit longer to get pregnant than other women, a new study has found. U.K. researchers asked 11,088 pregnant women to complete questionnaires at 12 and 18 weeks of gestation. Of those women, 171 (1.5 percent) had anorexia at some point in their lives, 199 (1.8 percent) had bulimia, and another 82 (0.7 percent) had experienced both conditions. A larger proportion of the women with the eating disorders took more than six months to conceive compared to those with no history of eating disorders (39.5 percent vs 25 percent). However, women with eating disorders weren't more likely to take longer than 12 months to conceive, the investigators found. Women with anorexia or bulimia were more than twice as…

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 28 — Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are typically thought to be diseases of young women and men. But researchers are finding that the personal demons that drive a young person to an eating disorder may linger into adulthood. More and more middle-aged and older people are coming forward to receive treatment for eating problems that began in their youth and have been reignited by adult stress or personal crises. "Some had actual eating disorders" when they were younger, and "others had aspects of an eating disorder but were never fully treated," said Dr. Ed Tyson, an eating disorders specialist in Austin, Texas. "Then something happens later in life that stresses them to a point where the eating disorder becomes …

THURSDAY, Aug. 23 — People with the eating disorder anorexia have difficulty judging their own body size but are able to size up others accurately, a small new study finds. The study included 25 people with anorexia and 25 people without the disorder who were shown a door-like opening and asked to judge whether they or other people in the room could pass through it. In earlier experiments, people with anorexia felt they could not pass through the door even if it was easily wide enough. In this study, people with anorexia were more accurate at judging whether other people could fit through the door than whether they could. The researchers also found a link between the anorexia patients' ability to fit through the door and their body size prior …

WEDNESDAY, March 6 — For people suffering from severe, tough-to-treat anorexia, having a biological "pacemaker" implanted in their brain may help ease the disorder, a small new study suggests. The researchers noted that anorexia is the psychiatric disorder with the highest mortality rate and, although therapies exist, not everyone benefits in the long term. The disorder is among the most common psychiatric ills diagnosed among teenage women. Up to 20 percent of patients do not respond to available treatments, which usually focus on behavioral change. The new study examined the effectiveness of an approach called deep brain stimulation (DBS), sometimes called a brain pacemaker. The procedure requires surgery, but is minimally invasive and reversible, the researchers…

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 28 — Teens with anorexia nervosa have bigger brains than those without the eating disorder, a finding that suggests biology may play a larger role in the condition than realized. Specifically, the teenage girls with anorexia had a larger insula, a part of the brain that is active when you taste food, and a larger orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain that tells you when to stop eating, said researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "While eating disorders are often triggered by the environment, there are most likely biological mechanisms that have to come together for an individual to develop an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa," Dr. Guido Frank, an assistant professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, said in a university …

THURSDAY, March 13, 2014 — A small, preliminary study hints that a hormone connected to positive feelings could help ease obsessions with food and obesity in people with anorexia. "Patients with anorexia have a range of social difficulties, which often start in their early teenage years before the onset of the illness," senior study author Janet Treasure, of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, in England, said in a university news release. "These social problems, which can result in isolation, may be important in understanding both the onset and maintenance of anorexia," Treasure said. "By using [the hormone] oxytocin as a potential treatment for anorexia, we are focusing on some of these underlying problems we see in patients." Oxytocin…

FRIDAY, March 28, 2014 — It's said you can never be too rich or too thin, but new research suggests otherwise. People who are clinically underweight face an even higher risk for dying than obese individuals, the study shows. Compared to normal-weight folks, the excessively thin have nearly twice the risk of death, researchers concluded after reviewing more than 50 prior studies. Obesity has occupied center stage under the public health spotlight, but "we have [an] obligation to ensure that we avoid creating an epidemic of underweight adults and fetuses who are otherwise at the correct weight," said study leader Dr. Joel Ray, a physician-researcher at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. The findings appear in the March 28 issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Public…

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 6, 2014 — Women with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa feel a sense of pride about their weight loss, and this positive emotion may play a major role in the deadly condition, according to a new study. "What we think happens is that positive emotions become exaggerated and are rewarding these maladaptive behaviors," study author Edward Selby, an assistant professor in the psychology department at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., said in a university news release. Over two weeks, the researchers assessed the emotional states of 118 women, ages 18-58, being treated for anorexia nervosa. Along with negative emotions, the women also felt positive about being able to meet or exceed their weight-loss goals. The study was published in the July issue of the…

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 24, 2014 — Family-based therapies can benefit teens with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, a new study suggests. "The take-away message for parents is that, first, there is good treatment available for their child who is struggling with anorexia," study author Dr. Stewart Agras, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, said in a university news release. "Second, the preferred treatment is family-based therapy in which parents help their child regain weight," Agras added. "For a long time, people blamed families for causing anorexia and thought they should be left out of treatment," study co-author Dr. James Lock, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, said in the news…

MONDAY, Dec. 29, 2014 — Anorexia is typically associated with women, but a new report finds that men — especially men obsessed with muscularity — can develop the eating disorder, too. The Canadian researchers noted that an estimated 10 percent or more of anorexia patients are thought to be male, though the actual number may be significantly higher. There was also a slightly larger proportion of gays with anorexia than is seen in women with the illness, the study found. "We know that anorexia does touch more women, but even though many parents, and even medical professionals, don't realize it, it's also among boys and men," said study lead author Dominique Meilleur, an associate professor of psychology who studies adolescence and eating disorders at the University of…

THURSDAY, March 26, 2015 — People with anorexia nervosa have an abnormal brain response to hunger signals, a new study finds. "When most people are hungry, they are motivated to eat," study first author Christina Wierenga, an associate professor of psychiatry at the the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, said in a university news release. "Yet individuals with anorexia can be hungry and still restrict their food intake. We wanted to identify brain mechanisms that may contribute to their ability to ignore rewards, like food," she explained. The finding offers new insight into eating disorders and could lead to new treatments that target specific brain pathways, according to the researchers. The findings were published recently in the journal…

— If you're concerned that your child may have an eating disorder, having the conversation can be difficult. The University of Michigan Health System suggests: Explain to your child in a caring, loving way about your concerns. Listen carefully to your child's response. Be aware that teens with eating disorders may be ashamed, afraid or out of control. Explain to your child that you want to help. You may need to bring up the conversation more than once if your child denies the behavior or gets angry. Monitor your child's Internet use, as there are sites that promote eating disorders. Seek professional help if you think your child needs it.