New research suggests that certain people are at a greater risk of developing anorexia due to the way their brains develop while they’re still in the womb.
Ian Frampton (honorary consultant in paediatric psychology at London’s Great Ormond Street hospital) and colleagues studied over 200 young women aged 12 – 25 who were being treated for anorexia.
As The Guardian newspaper explains:
70% of the patients had suffered damage to their neurotransmitters, which help brain cells communicate with each other, had undergone subtle changes in the structure of their brains, or both.
In the past, scientists believed that being severely underweight caused changes in brain chemistry: Framptom’s research suggests it’s the other way round: the changes are caused in the womb. (There is no link to poor maternal diet, or environmental factors.)
The findings have given hope to eating disorder charities and campaigners, who believe that this could revolutionise the way anorexia is treated. Some hope that drugs could be produced to correct the brain chemistry, in a similar way to using anti-depressants to treat depression.
The head of the eating disorders charity Beat, Susan Ringwood, welcomed the news and told the Guardian that:
It will help parents understand that they aren’t to blame. Parents always blame themselves when their child develops an eating disorder. But what we are learning more and more from research in this area is that some people are very vulnerable to anorexia and that is down to genetic factors and brain chemistry.
The study is due to be presented at the 9th London International Eating Disorders Conference.
More like this in Science Mar 31, 2009
feedproxy.google.com
