Eating disorder behaviors are reinforced due to changes in the brain's reward response processes and alterations in the food intake control network.
Activity in the dorsal mid insular could drive different interpretations in bodily sensations in those with mental health disorders like depression, anorexia, and panic disorders.
Children aged between 7 and 9 who experience frequent abdominal pain are more likely to develop fasting habits and eating disorders to help control their weight by age 16.
Contrary to popular belief, people with eating disorders like bulimia nervosa do not lose control and binge eat in response to stressful events.
Playing with ultra-thin dolls can skew a young girl's perception of body ideals. The body dissatisfaction that occurs can eventually lead to eating disorders, depression, and unhealthy relationships with diet and exercise.
Promoting and maintaining a better gut microbial balance may help to protect against symptoms of anorexia in those with the eating disorder.
People with eating disorders are up to twelve times more likely to experience body dysmorphia than those without a history of eating disorders. 76% of those with eating disorders report suffering from body dysmorphia, a new study reveals.
Study reveals how eating disorders in some women are inextricably linked to their culture and upbringing.
Those with body dysmorphic disorder and anorexia have abnormalities in activity and connectivity in visual and parietal brain networks. People with anorexia and body dysmorphia process images with high, low, or normal levels of detail. The abnormalities for low level of detail have the most direct relationship with disorder symptom severity and body perception.
Children with autistic traits at age seven were 24% more likely to develop weekly eating disorders, including fasting, purging, and binge eating, by age 14.
Hunger fails to activate food reward circuits in people with anorexia.
The largest genetic map of mental health disorders to date reveals there are three groups of highly genetically related disorders among eight psychiatric disorders. A gene related to nervous system development is a risk factor for all eight disorders studied. The RBFOX1 gene is implicated in seven of the eight disorders. ADHD and depression share 44% of genetic risk factors common in the general population. 109 pleiotropic loci affect more than one disorder. These pleiotropic loci are within genes that show heightened expression in the brain through the lifespan, beginning during the second trimester of pregnancy.
