Anorexia largely determined by heredity

The Washington Times ^ | March 7, 2006 | Joyce Howard Price

[neverdem]

    An international study concludes that the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, a rare but dangerous mental condition, is primarily genetic in origin.

    The study also found that a tendency to be anxious and depressed, or neuroticism, early in life is a strong predictor of having to battle anorexia years later.

    The collaborative study of more than 31,400 Swedish twins by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, estimated that 56 percent of the liability for developing anorexia is determined by heredity.

    "Fifty-six percent heritability -- that's a fairly large contribution of genes," said Cynthia M. Bulik, lead author of the report published in this month's issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

    The study is the first published in medical literature that has been able to estimate the key role inheritance has in the likelihood of developing anorexia nervosa -- an illness characterized by a person's intense fear of weight gain and a refusal to maintain a minimally acceptable body weight.

    The condition was big news in 1983, when Karen Carpenter, 32 -- a pop singer who, in the 1970s with her brother, Richard, had hits such as "We've Only Just Begun" and "Close to You" -- died of cardiac failure resulting from anorexia. Obituaries at the time told how fans who attended her concerts sometimes gasped in horror when they saw the emaciated figure on stage.

    Ms. Bulik said anorexics also tend to exercise far more than they should.

    "You might hear of a person weighing only 50 or 60 pounds who is running five miles per day," she said yesterday in a telephone interview.

    Anorexia nervosa is most prevalent among women in their teens and early twenties.

    "But it is surely...

[fdsa2]

Like obesity then...

[Alia]

Not buying this bilge for one single second. And the more the "marketeer" scientist groups clamor for "roots in DNA", the more ultimately we end up back at all human behavior being a matter of "choices".

The 60s and 70s saw the same groups clamoring at the "nurture" end of the nature/nurture argument. Now, they are attempting to swing bedside to the nature side. No doubts BF Skinner is having a cow out there in "outer body" land.

[ohhhh]

( An international study concludes that the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, a rare but dangerous mental condition, is primarily genetic in origin.)

Alcohalism,obesity,homosexuality are now considered to be genetic deficiencies and not choices anymore by the dufus intellectuals. Next step will probably be "fixing the parents" to create a master race of liars and killers [once called national socialists (nazi's) in the 1930's]. And their banner is atheistic socialism all done for love for the children they so relentlessly murder in these times of sorrow.

[Bookwoman]

This is an important article, but it is only the beginning. My daughter became anorexic when she hit puberty and her biochemistry and hormones went all out of whack. When we got her various chemical levels normalized - female hormones, blood sugar, thyroid, etc. - she was ok.

I believe it is essentially a biochemical disorder, which certainly can be strongly impacted by heredity. We went through hell on earth until things were fixed. Even now, she is very brittle - she has to make sure she gets precisely enough water, she has to talk salt tablets, and regulate her blood sugar levels through eating small meals at precise intervals. Her grandmother has the same biochemical issues.

Some people may choose to diet too rigorously and it gets out of hand, but even then they set into motion some of the same biochemical issues that happened to my daughter "naturally" in puberty. Once your body gets off balance like this, for whatever reason, it still needs to be brought back somehow or it can be fatal. When the doctors treat it as a "psychological" issue only, these poor people can't get well!

[neverdem]

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