Eating Disorders: Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels: The Neurobiology of Anorexia Nervosa.

Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels: the neurobiology of anorexia nervosa.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Trends Neurosci. 2013 Jan 17;
Kaye WH, Wierenga CE, Bailer UF, Simmons AN, Bischoff-Grethe A

Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) engage in relentless restrictive eating and often become severely emaciated. Because there are no proven treatments, AN has high rates of relapse, chronicity, and death. Those with AN tend to have childhood temperament and personality traits, such as anxiety, obsessions, and perfectionism, which may reflect neurobiological risk factors for developing AN. Restricted eating may be a means of reducing negative mood caused by skewed interactions between serotonin aversive or inhibitory and dopamine reward systems. Brain imaging studies suggest that altered eating is a consequence of dysregulated reward and/or awareness of homeostatic needs, perhaps related to enhanced executive ability to inhibit incentive motivational drives. An understanding of the neurobiology of this disorder is likely to be important for developing more effective treatments.
HubMed – eating

 

Differential Expression Analysis throughout the Weaning Period in the Mouse Cerebral Cortex.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2013 Jan 15;
Maeda N, Kawakami S, Ohmoto M, Coutre JL, Vinyes-Pares G, Arigoni F, Okada S, Abe K, Aizawa H, Misaka T

At weaning, mammals switch from drinking mother’s milk to eating foods of environmental origin. These foods contain natural compounds with novel tastes and textures, which are provided to the young for the first time following the termination of breastfeeding. This novel eating experience may alter the cognitive brain function of mammalian babies, increasing their reactions to their food environments. Because the cerebral cortex is a central organ for cognition and learning, we investigated differences in whole-gene expression profiles in the mouse cerebral cortex using microarray analysis before and after weaning. Of 45,037 murine genes, 35 genes were upregulated, and 31 genes were downregulated, in response to weaning. In particular, immediate early genes, molecular chaperones, and myelin-related genes were upregulated. In situ hybridization analysis revealed that the mRNA for an immediate early gene, Egr-2/KROX-20, was transported from the nucleus to the cell body at layer 5/6 of the somatosensory cortex during weaning. In contrast, in animals without any food supply other than mother’s milk, Egr-2/KROX-20 mRNA was retained within the nucleus at the somatosensory cortex. These data suggest that the novel experience of food intake modulates gene expression profiles in the murine cerebral cortex at the weaning stage.
HubMed – eating

 

Reduction in total plasma ghrelin levels following catecholamine depletion: Relation to bulimic and depressive symptoms.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013 Jan 16;
Homan P, Grob S, Milos G, Schnyder U, Hasler G

There is increasing preclinical and clinical evidence of the important role played by the gastric peptide hormone ghrelin in the pathogenesis of symptoms of depression and eating disorders. To investigate the role of ghrelin and its considered counterpart, peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY), in the development of bulimic and depressive symptoms induced by catecholamine depletion, we administered the tyrosine hydroxylase inhibitor alpha-methyl-paratyrosine (AMPT) in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover, single-site experimental trial to 29 healthy controls and 20 subjects with fully recovered bulimia nervosa (rBN). We found a decrease between peprandial and postprandial plasma ghrelin levels (p<0.0001) and a postprandial rise in plasma PYY levels (p<0.0001) in both conditions in the entire study population. Plasma ghrelin levels decreased in the entire study population after treatment with AMPT compared to placebo (p<0.006). AMPT-induced changes in plasma ghrelin levels were negatively correlated with AMPT-induced depressive symptoms (p<0.004). Plasma ghrelin and plasma PYY levels were also negatively correlated (p<0.05). We did not observe a difference in ghrelin or PYY response to catecholamine depletion between rBN subjects and healthy controls, and there was no correlation between plasma ghrelin and PYY levels and bulimic symptoms induced by catecholamine depletion. These findings suggest a relationship between catecholamines and ghrelin with depressive symptoms. HubMed – eating

 

A Longitudinal Investigation of Nutrition and Dietary Patterns in Children of Mothers with Eating Disorders.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

J Pediatr. 2013 Jan 17;
Easter A, Naumann U, Northstone K, Schmidt U, Treasure J, Micali N

OBJECTIVE: To investigate dietary patterns and nutritional intake in children of mothers with eating disorders. STUDY DESIGN: Mothers (N = 9423) from a longitudinal general population birth cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, completed Food Frequency Questionnaires on their children at 3, 4, 7, and 9 years of age. Macronutrient intake was estimated, and dietary patterns were obtained using principal components analysis. Linear regression and mixed-effects models were used to assess dietary patterns and nutritional intake among children of women with lifetime anorexia nervosa (AN, n = 140), bulimia nervosa (BN, n = 170), or AN+BN (n = 71), compared with children of women without eating disorders (unexposed women, n = 9037). RESULTS: Children in the maternal AN and BN groups had higher scores on the “health conscious/vegetarian” dietary pattern compared with unexposed children. Less adherence to the “traditional” dietary pattern was observed in children of exposed mothers, with more pronounced differences in early childhood. Children of women with AN and BN had higher intake of energy and children of women with BN had higher intake of carbohydrates and starch and lower intake of fat, compared with children in the unexposed group. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal eating disorders are associated with altered offspring dietary patterns and macronutrient intake. Longitudinal changes in patterns of diet in children of women with eating disorders may increase the risk of weight gain or disordered eating later in life.
HubMed – eating

 


 

Bring Your Own Doc – “Queen of Versailles,” and “Thin” Director, Lauren Greenfield – thelip.tv www.facebook.com www.facebook.com twitter.com Esteemed photographer-turned acclaimed Doc Director, Lauren Greenfield, visits BYOD and examines her work and inspiration with Ondi. Though she started out documenting other cultures, she discusses how she made the transition to telling the stories of the women around her in America. Eating disorders, girl culture, and materialism are the bread and butter of her work, and we dive in deep. GUEST BIO: Lauren Greenfield is an American artist, documentary photographer, and documentary filmmaker. She has published three monographs of her photographic work, directed four documentary films, exhibited photographic prints in museums throughout the world, and had work published in a variety of leading magazines and other publications around the world.[1] Her photographic work and films generally deals with issues relating to the influence of popular culture on how we live (youth culture, gender identity, body image, eating disorders, media, wealth, fashion, beauty, and consumerism). In January 2012, Greenfield was awarded the Sundance Film Festival Directing Award, US Documentary 2012 for her feature documentary film, The Queen of Versailles. In 2003, American PHOTO Magazine named her one of the “The 25 Most Important Photographers Now”. In April 2005, she shared the third spot of the “100 Most Important People in Photography”, again in American Photo Magazine. She has received many photography awards and grants, including the

 

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