Does Eating Give You Pleasure, Or Make You Anxious?
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Perhaps one of the most puzzling symptom of anorexia nervosa – a disorder that tends to occur in young girls – could be the refusal to eat, resulting in extreme weight loss. While most individuals have a excellent deal of difficulty in dieting and losing weight, particularly if a diet extends more than several months or years, individuals with anorexia nervosa can literally diet themselves to death. In fact, this disorder has a extremely high death rate from starvation. A new study, now online within the journal International Journal of Eating Disorders, sheds light on why these symptoms occur in anorexia nervosa.
Most men and women find eating to be a pleasant and rewarding experience. In contrast, people with anorexia nervosa frequently say that eating makes them more anxious, and food refusal makes them feel better. Investigation more than the past decade has provided new insights into the brain mechanisms that are related to the rewarding aspects of eating. One of these brain chemicals is dopamine, which is released when folks or animals eat tasty foods.
A study led by Walter Kaye, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Eating Disorder Therapy and Analysis Program at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, used a brain imaging technology called positron emission tomography (PET), which permits visualization of dopamine function in the brain. In order to provoke dopamine levels within the brain, scientists administered a one-time dose of the drug amphetamine, which releases dopamine within the brain.
In wholesome ladies with out an eating disorder, amphetamine-induced release of dopamine was associated to feelings of extreme pleasure in a part of the brain known as a “reward” center. Even so, in folks who had anorexia nervosa, amphetamine produced them feel anxious, along with the part of the brain that was activated was, instead, a part of the brain that worries about consequences.
“This is the first study to demonstrate a biological reason why people with anorexia nervosa have a paradoxical response to food,” said Kaye. “It’s achievable that when individuals with anorexia nervosa eat, the associated release of the neurotransmitter dopamine makes them anxious, rather than experiencing a regular feeling of reward. It truly is understandable why it really is so difficult to get individuals with anorexia nervosa to eat and gain weight, simply because food generates intensely uncomfortable feelings of anxiety.”
Importantly, this study was of folks who have recovered from anorexia nervosa for at the very least a year, suggesting that the feeling provoked may be due to pre-existing traits, rather than a response to getting at an extremely low weight.
In terms of impact on therapy tactics, you can find no currently proven remedies that decrease core symptoms in anorexia nervosa, such as eating-induced anxiety. Based on the researchers, despite the fact that food is accompanied by severe anxiety, it’s still critical to eat and gain weight in order to effectively treat this disorder.
Contributors towards the study include Ursula F. Bailer, MD, Medical University of Vienna and UCSD Department of Psychiatry; Vikas Duvvuri, MD, PhD, UCSD Department of Psychiatry; and Rajesh Narendran, MD, W. Gordon Frankle, MD, Michael L. Himes and Chester A. Mathis, PhD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. These results have been published on line in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
The study was supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health and also the Prince Foundation.
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University of California, San Diego Wellness Sciences
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