Gene links to anorexia identified: Largest genetic study of the eating disorder detects common and rare variants

Gene links to anorexia identified: Largest genetic study of the eating disorder detects common and rare variants: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Anorexia Nervosa, a disease most prevalent in young woman, is characterized by refusal to eat, severe weight loss, and the distorted view that the person is fat when in fact they are emaciated. Treatment plans are difficult as there is no reasoning with the person.

Now we have a study which demonstrates that the problem is occurring on the genetic level and is not just in the patient's head. The genes which were identified were in a region which "code for neuronal cell-adhesion molecules -- proteins that influence how neurons communicate with each other in the brain."

If genes which code for communication are lacking that would make sense in people who are having a disconnect between thinking they are obese and an actual state of life-threatening emaciation.

I would look into the possibility of running neurotransmitter profiles and then prescribing classic brain nutrients like acetyl choline and phosphatidyl serine. I wish the researchers would incorporate this sort of treatment into their study.