Girls who have high levels of estradiol, a form of estrogen, at puberty are more likely to develop eating disorders, according to a new study from Michigan State University.

Psychology professor Kelly Klump and her colleagues measured the amount of estradiol in the bloodstream of 200 sets of twin girls ages 10 to 15 years old. Increases in this hormone apparently activate a genetic risk for eating disorders.

"The reason we see an increase in genetic influences during puberty is that the genes for disordered eating are essentially switched on during that time," said Dr. Klump.

This study appeared in the journal Psychological Medicine.
 

Labels: risks, puberty

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Females with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa become dangerously underweight, and they actually lose gray matter in their brains. However, once they recover and regain weight, their brains recover too, according to a new study from Yale University.

• Dr. Christine Roberto and her colleagues used brain imaging technology to compare the brains of 32 adult female patients with anorexia to the brains of 21 healthy women.
• The women with eating disorders showed reductions in their brain volume at the beginning of the study.
• As they gained weight, they recover their loss of gray matter.
• Anorexia does not appear to affect the white matter in the brain. Dr. Roberto said she was unsure if such brain loss during anorexia nervosa had an effect on cognitive ability.

This study appeared in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

 

Labels: anorexia, recovery

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Many people mistakenly believe that eating disorders were believed affect only Caucasian women. Little research was done on men or women of various races and ethnic backgrounds. Today, though, research results document the degree to which eating disorders and body image concerns impact men and women across racial and ethnic lines.

For example, examiner.com reports the following about bulimia among African American adults:

Research has been conducted on African Americans that showed that they are more prone to the eating disorder bulimia nervosa. Bulimia is not easily detectable at a glance because those who are bulimic are able to maintain their weight, but they do not maintain their food.

Additional studies are also finding an increasing number of men being affected by eating disorders, often in conjunction with obsessive levels of exercise.

To summarize: Regardless of a person's gender, racial background or ethnic history, eating disorders remain a very real (and very dangerous) threat.

Labels: body image, bulimia, epidemic

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 0 Comments

Though scientists have speculated for years about genetic influences in the development of eating disorders, a groundbreaking study has finally found evidence. Researchers from Michigan State University found a connection between eating disorders and a type of estrogen called estradiol.

The study] found that influence of one’s genes on eating disorder symptoms was much greater in pubertal girls with higher levels of estradiol than pubertal girls with lower levels of estradiol. …

Lead investigator Kelly Klump, MSU associate professor of psychology, said previous research had established that eating disorders are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors… The underlying effects of the genes, however, were unknown.” [Source: Michigan State University]

Though the actual genes associated with eating disorders have yet to be discovered, finding what triggers them is a significant step forward.

Labels: genetics

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When Lisa and Sheila Himmel published their book Hungry: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia, they became recognized as experts on the topic of eating disorders among girls.

Suddenly, they were being invited to speak to high school students, parents, and even pediatricians – many of whom who admitted having several patients about which they were worried.

“They had patients, some as young as eight, with serious eating disorders that could become life-threatening… Dr. Frederick Llyod told me, ‘I’ve never had to hospitalize on that first visit. My usual strategy is to listen to the family and the child’s concerns, which is most often weight loss. The child almost always feels there is not a problem and they are in control.’” [Source: Psychology Today]

Pediatricians are often the first medical personnel made aware of a young person’s eating disorder. They have the unique opportunity of offering help and intervention before the disorder becomes truly dangerous.

Labels: girls, pediatricians

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Women who tell researchers that they have no weight problems and believe they do not struggle with poor body image actually do have issues with self-image, according to a new study from Brigham Young University.

• Dr. Mark Allen, Dr. Diane Spangler and their colleagues compared brain activity of women with eating disorders with a control group of women who said they had no such problems.
• The research team was surprised to see that the control group's brains activated when shown pictures of overweight women.

"When we scanned the women, they actually show that they were very concerned about being overweight or seeing overweight images, where the men were not at all," said Dr. Spangler. "There is so much bombardment of this 'thin ideal' and what your weight should be that it is showing up in the brains of women, even women don't feel like this is a concern for them."

Dr. Allen said that the findings suggest "there is a disconnection between a conscious evaluation of how your body image is and what is really going on, deep down inside, psychologically, and now we can see neurologically."

The study appears in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
 

Labels: self-esteem, body image, women

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 0 Comments

Just controlling your eating is not enough to cure yourself of body image problems and may do more harm than good, according to therapist and writer Laura Schultz.

Schultz was commenting on a best-selling book, "It's Not What You're Eating, It's What's Eating You," by Dr. Janet Greeson. This title may be the key to helping people with eating disorders, Schultz said.

"As a psychotherapist, I've done enough research to know that diets do not work in the long run itself and starvation is dangerous to one's health," Schultz said. "... If it is truly 'what's eating you versus what you're eating,' it requires a much more focused approach to examine the psychological and physical reasons to analyze and solve the issue. It is helpful to learn to accept one's body weight where it is at the moment, rather than to beat oneself up, which only leads to more self-destructive patterns."

Dr. Greeson points out that at the root of disordered eating patterns are physical, emotional and spiritual problems that need to be addressed in a comprehensive setting.

Over ten million American women have eating disorders, and half of American women tell researchers that they are unhappy with their physical appearances.
 

Labels: body image

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Thirteen years ago, the crown princess of Sweden was trying to hide her eating disorder from the paparazzi. Suffering from anorexia nervosa, Princess Victoria grew thinner and thinner, even as the Swedish press printed pictures and articles of concern. She enrolled in the Yale University in United States, and sought treatment anonymously for her problems.

"I felt like an accelerating train, going right down during the whole period. I had eating disorders and was aware of it, my anguish was enormous. I really hated how I looked, how I was ... I, Victoria, did not exist. It felt like everything in my life and around me was controlled by others. The one thing I could control was the food I put in me."

This summer Victoria married her personal trainer, Daniel Wrestling, owner of the Balance Training gymnasiums. The press reported that the Princess looked "beautiful and fit "at their wedding in Stockholm's Storkyrkan Cathedral June 19.

Labels: anorexia

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Actress Gwen Paltrow admits that she goes on extreme diets, including the "Master Cleanse." This regime involves drinking maple syrup, lemon juice, water, and red pepper in order to lose 20 or more pounds very quickly.

"It's not what you'd characterize as pretty," she said. "Or easy. But it did work."

Paltrow began a macrobiotic diet in 1999, which consists of vegetables, grains, soup, and fish. Her six-day-a-week exercise routine involves 40 minutes of cardio-dancing followed by leg crunches and arm exercises.

The intensity of her meat-free, dairy-free diet and other routines may be taking its toll on the 37-year-old's health.

• After breaking her leg last year, Paltrow underwent a bone density scan and found out she had osteopenia, a precursor to osteoporosis.
• Usually only elderly women develop these conditions after menopause.
• Paltrow's doctors told her she had the lowest levels of Vitamin D they had ever seen, and advised her to spend more time in the sun.
• She also has to take prescription strength Vitamin D. This vitamin is found in sunlight and necessary for bone health.

ABC news medical consultant Dr. Stephen Honig said Paltrow's condition is a warning to young women at risk for eating disorders.

Dr. Honig, director of the Osteoporosis Center at New York University Hospital, said teenagers should consume milk and other dairy products, exercise moderately, and maintain a healthy body weight.

"Don't get too crazy," he advised.
 

Labels: extreme diets, osteoporosis, diet

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