Articles, research on anorexia-related issues: weight, diet, emotional health, mental health
Patients with anorexia have elevated opioid neurotransmitter activity in the brain ScienceDaily (Jan 27, 2025) – A study showed that changes in the functioning of opioid neurotransmitters in the brain may underlie anorexia.
‘You Don’t Look Anorexic’ New York Times (Oct 20, 2022) by Kate Siber — New research shows that our assumptions about eating disorders are often wrong — and that many larger-bodied people are starving themselves … Despite its prevalence, atypical anorexia is still considered widely underdiagnosed and under-researched, and many primary-care doctors have never heard of it
Hope Virgo: the woman who survived anorexia – and began Dump the Scales The Guardian/Interview (July 7, 2021) by Zoe Williams – Hospitalised with an eating disorder as a teenager, she recovered to become a campaigner. Her mission? To show that eating disorders aren’t always visible. Hope Virgo’s description of her descent into anorexia is so harrowing and filled with danger that meeting her in real life – in the south London flat she shares with her fiance – is like meeting the personification of triumph or optimism.
Blood Test May Distinguish Anorexia From ‘Constitutional Thinness’ Medscape (Mar 7, 2018) by Liam Davenport – A simple, inexpensive blood test can help clinicians to distinguish between anorexia nervosa (AN) and constitutional thinness (CT) in severely underweight young women, new research suggests. Since the introduction of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), the diagnostic criteria for AN have relied on psychological factors, making it harder to distinguish AN from CT. However, a new study of more than 150 young women showed that blood levels of a thyroid hormone can be used to distinguish the two conditions with high sensitivity and specificity.
Anorexia And Bulimia Are Black Women’s Diseases, Too Huffington Post (Feb 26, 2018) by Erica Hawkins … White women are certainly the most visible victims of eating disorders …The National Eating Disorders Association reports that accounts of eating disorders among ethnic minorities are growing, but statistics on the prevalence of eating disorders among women of color still aren’t available. The NEDA believes this is most likely due to the longstanding but erroneous idea that eating disorders only affect white women ― a misperception that may lead to research and reporting biases, and result in relatively little research involving participants from racial and ethnic minority groups.
Deep Brain Stimulation Promising for Severe Anorexia Medscape Medical News (Mar 2, 2017) by Megan Brooks –Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subcallosal cingulate in patients with highly treatment–resistant anorexia nervosa can significantly improve mood, anxiety, affective regulation, and body weight, suggest results of an open-label study. … more
Understanding anorexia ScienceDaily (Feb 19, 2015) – An expert discusses triggers, treatments and the prevalence of anorexia, the deadliest eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa is associated with the highest mortality and suicide rates; compared to healthy peers, women with anorexia are up to 12 times more likely to die of any cause, and approximately 57 times more likely to die from suicide, over the same period of time. more…
What if anorexia wasn’t a disorder, but a passion? The Globe and Mail (Sept 14, 2014) by Adriana Barton — After a century of treating patients with anorexia nervosa, psychiatrists remain stymied as to how to loosen its grip. Forcefeeding may trigger suicide, and in many cases cognitive therapies are no match for patients’ burning drive to stay skeletally thin – even if it kills them. Recently, however, a Canadian scholar challenged conventional ways of thinking about the illness with a theory involving archaic ideas about torturous passions and their power to take over mind, body and soul. more …
Anorexia fueled by pride about weight loss ScienceDaily (Aug 4, 2014)) — Those in a new study being treated for anorexia not only suffered with negative emotions but also felt emotionally positive, having a sense of pride over being able to maintain and exceed their weight-loss goals. “Being in control is important for many of these women,” one author said. “What we need to do is find a way to reconnect the positive emotions they feel in losing weight to other aspects of their lives that will lead to a more balanced sense of happiness.” more …
‘The 200-pound anorexic: Obese teens at risk for disorder, but it’s often unrecognized TODAY.com (Sept 22, 2013) by Melissa Dahl – Hear “anorexia” and you think bone-thin young women — scary-skinny runway models with emaciated figures. But an overlooked group of young people are also struggling with anorexia nervosa: overweight and even obese kids. Adolescents with a history of obesity are at “significant risk” for developing anorexia, says Dr. Leslie A. Sim, clinical director of the Mayo Clinic’s eating disorders program, in a recent paper in Pediatrics. But because of their size, their symptoms often go unrecognized and untreated, Sim says. Link
Brain size may signal risk of developing an eating disorder ScienceDaily (Aug 22, 2013) New research indicates that teens with anorexia nervosa have bigger brains than teens that do not have the eating disorder. That is according to a study by researchers at the University of Colorado’s School of Medicine that examined a group of adolescents with anorexia nervosa and a group without. They found that girls with anorexia nervosa had a larger insula, a part of the brain that is active when we taste food, and a larger orbitofrontal cortex, a part of the brain that tells a person when to stop eating. Link
Anorexic individuals’ disturbed body image influences unconscious movements ScienceDaily (May 29, 2013) — Individuals suffering from anorexia nervosa perceive their bodies as being larger than they are and this disturbed body representation affects their movements, according to research published May 29 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Anouk Keizer and colleagues from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Link
Male anorexia common but hidden The Toronto Star (May 5, 2013) – Recent studies show about one male case for every three female cases, but few men or boys show up at clinics. It’s a tight squeeze even now for the tattoo that’s emerging in outline down the length of Jay Walker’s thin but well-muscled arm, video-game-themed artwork on parchment-thin skin. “People call me lean now,” admits Walker, who at six-foot-one weighs in at 165 pounds. Three years ago, the fitness and health instructor was 35 pounds lighter, and suffering the hidden malady of male anorexia. Link
Small trial shows “brain pacemaker” may ease severe anorexia Reuters (Mar. 06, 2013) by Kate Kelland – Scientists have for the first time reported successful use of a brain-stimulating implant to help patients with severe anorexia whose condition had not improved with other treatments. Doctors implanted a device similar to a pacemaker in the brains of six severe anorexics and found at least half put on weight and showed improvements in mood. Under previous therapies, none had shown progress. Link
‘Connection Error’ in brains of Anorexics ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2013) — Researchers have found altered connectivity in the brain network for body perception in people with anorexia: The weaker the connection, the greater the misjudgement of body shape. When people see pictures of bodies, a whole range of brain regions are active. This network is altered in women with anorexia nervosa. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, two regions that are important for the processing of body images were functionally more weakly connected in anorexic women than in healthy women. Link
Pro-anorexic bloggers interviewed ScienceDaily (Aug. 20, 2012) — A new research study from Indiana University suggests there may be benefits to the controversial activities of “pro-ana” bloggers, the online community for people with eating disorders. Most of the 33 bloggers from seven countries interviewed for the study, which has just been published in the journal Health Communication, said their writing activities provide a way to express themselves without judgment, which the authors believe can be crucial to their treatment. Link
New drug to tackle body fat problems ScienceDaily (Apr. 27, 2012) — Medical researchers at the University of Sheffield have defined the structure of a key part of the human obesity receptor- an essential factor in the regulation of body fat – which could help provide new treatments for the complications of obesity and anorexia. Link
Peer pressure drives “socially transmitted” anorexia Reuters (Mar. 1, 2012) by Paul Casciato — Anorexia is a socially transmitted disorder and appears to be more prevalent in countries such as France where women are thinner than average, according to new research from the London School of Economics and Political Science. The “economic analysis” of anorexia, using a sample of nearly 3,000 young women across Europe, concluded that peer group pressure is one of the most significant influences on self-image and the development of anorexia and appeared just as the autumn/winter season is winding up with Paris Fashion Week. Link
Is Anorexia a Disease, a Series of Bad Decisions, or Both? Psychology Today (Jan 31, 2012) by Emily C. Troscianko – It’s easy to dismiss anorexia as a pseudo-disorder for rich white girls who want to get thin. Less obviously untrue is the emotionally charged condemnation of anorexia as a profound kind of selfishness. How do we even begin to think about questions of individual agency in mental health? … more
Does eating give you pleasure, or make you anxious? ScienceDaily (May 21, 2011) — While most people have a great deal of difficulty in dieting and losing weight, particularly if a diet extends over many months or years, individuals with anorexia nervosa can literally diet themselves to death. In fact, this disorder has a very high death rate from starvation. A new study sheds light on why these symptoms occur in anorexia nervosa. Link
An older generation falls prey to eating disorders New York Times: Well (Mar. 29, 2011) by Tara Parker-Pope – More than 10 million Americans suffer from anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders. And while people tend to think such problems are limited to adolescence and young adulthood, Judith Shaw knows otherwise… Experts say that while eating disorders are first diagnosed mainly in young people, more and more women are showing up at their clinics in midlife or even older. Some had eating disorders early in life and have relapsed, but a significant minority first develop symptoms in middle age. (Women with such disorders outnumber men by 10 to 1.) Link
Women with eating disorders draw a different picture of themselves than women without, study suggests ScienceDaily (Feb. 15, 2011) — Women suffering from anorexia or bulimia draw themselves with prominently different characteristics than women who do not have eating disorders and who are considered of normal weight. This has been revealed in a new joint study from the University of Haifa, Soroka University Medical Center and Achva Academic College, Israel, published in The Arts in Psychotherapy. Link
Survey puts new focus on binge eating as a diagnosis New York Times (Feb 13, 2009), by Nicholas Bakalar — Binge eating is not yet officially classified as a psychiatric disorder. But it may be more common than the two eating disorders now recognized, anorexia nervosa and bulimia. The first nationally representative study of eating disorders in the United States, a nationwide survey of more than 2,900 men and women, was published by Harvard researchers in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry. It found prevalence in the general population of 0.6 percent for anorexia, 1 percent for bulimia and 2.8 percent for binge-eating disorder. Link
Binge eating more common than other eating disorders, survey finds ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2007) — The first national survey of individuals with eating disorders shows that binge eating disorder is more prevalent than either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. The study, conducted by researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, also calls binge eating disorder a “major public health burden” because of its direct link to severe obesity and other serious health effects. Link
Genetic clues to eating disorders BBC online: Health (January 21, 1999) — Doctors studying the causes of the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia believe it has less to do with media images of slim-figured models and more to do with biological and genetic factors. Link
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