Bulimia Where anorexiaare associated with a neuronal change in people who have it. Dr Guido Franck, researcher in neuroscience at the University of Colorado (United States), has just put his finger on a neuronal peculiarity that allows us to better understand what happens in the brains of people who suffer from eating disorders. In the review Translational Psychiatry, the neurologist explains that people with anorexia ignore the feeling of hunger because their brain does not react as it normally does in a non-sick subject. Neural connections would be somehow reversed, hampering the process of regulation of hungerand satiety.
“Normally, the region of the brain responsible for appetite should make you get out of your chair and get something to eat. In patients with anorexia or bulimia, this is not the case,” says Dr. Guido Frank, lead author of the study and professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, quoted by AFP. This observation was made by observing 26 women suffering from anorexia, 25 women suffering from bulimia and 26 others without an eating disorder. All the volunteers underwent an appetite activation test which consisted of drinking a little sugar water. Meanwhile, the researchers auscultated brain mechanisms using medical imaging (MRI).
The hypothalamus, the center of hunger, turned upside down in anorexics
Neurologists have found that neural connections are not made normally in people with anorexia. The white matter in the brain that was supposed to transmit information between the hypothalamus and the brain was altered. The hypothalamus (hunger control center) which normally receives hunger signals was also upset. This reversal of the classic circuit of appetite and satiety would make it impossible to respond normally to the call for food to satisfy one’s hunger.
This preliminary work must now be deepened by observing the cerebral mechanisms in children from families crossed by eating disorders.
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