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New Anorexia Research Indicates Genetics Are Involved
Filed under: Medical Conditions, In The News, Research Reveals: Tweens, Research Reveals: Teens
If you're anorexic, are you going to pass it on to your children? Credit: Corbis
In the largest genetic study of anorexia to date, researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia discovered that anorexia risk might be determined by genetics. According to the new study published in the Nov. 16 issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry, genes could account for more than half of a person's susceptibility to the eating disorder.
Past studies done on twins have led researchers to believe that anorexia is highly heritable, yet the genetic basis of anorexia has remained elusive. In this study, led by Dr. Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the research team set out to discover why.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association, anorexia has the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric disorders, and successful treatment is challenging. It is estimated that anorexia affects almost one percent of women in the United States. Understanding the genetic influence would help medical professionals to better treat this disease that afflicts millions of Americans.
Maggie Baumann, a marriage and family therapist intern in Newport Beach, Calif., began her struggles with anorexia and compulsive exercising when she was a teenager. She is now a 49-year-old mother of two daughters in their early 20s. Anorexic during her second pregnancy (sometimes referred to as pregorexia), she continued with her disordered eating and exercise habits throughout her daughters' childhoods.
"There were no chips, no cookies, nothing fun or kid-like in the house," she tells ParentDish in a phone interview. "One day (my husband) just took over and said, 'We can't live like this.' He's cooked every meal ever since. Had my husband not intervened when the girls were in second and third grade, they would both have eating disorders."
Baumann and her twin brother were given up by their biological mother at the age of 6 months. They, along with their older brother, were adopted by another family, and she later learned that her birth mother suffered from post-partum depression during those first 6 months of her life. She died of anorexia at the age of 42. Baumann never knew this until she sought recovery decades later, which she finds to be evidence supporting the claim that anorexia can be genetic.
"When we're talking about eating disorders being passed on genetically, we're not talking about genetic determinism," which are things like the color of our eyes, Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, medical director for the Eating Recovery Center in Denver, tells ParentDish in a phone interview. "We're talking about gene environment interaction. Nature and nurture."
The nature of eating disorders is so complex and genetics is only one component. In fact, Hakonarson and his team have just scratched the surface. According to MSNBC, "[T]he researchers said that while these genetic variations are promising leads, future studies with even more participants are needed to confirm the findings, as well as to tease out more such genetic markers for anorexia."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
11-23-2010 @ 9:21PM
Ci said...It could also be realted to the enviornment the child is raised in.
If a person is anorexic, (s)he might be more likely to raise their offspring to believe beauty can only be acheived through the "nothing" diet.
Reply
11-23-2010 @ 9:21PM
Ci said...It could also be realted to the enviornment the child is raised in.
If a person is anorexic, (s)he might be more likely to raise their offspring to believe beauty can only be acheived through the "nothing" diet.
Reply
11-24-2010 @ 8:54PM
michele Patrick said...I have anorexia and I would never raise my kids to have this disease.
Anyone that has this would not wish this hell or their worst enemy. The kids may model this behavior because that is what they have seen.
I know for me I go out of my way to let me kids choose what they want to eat. I do not impose my food rules on them.
Reply
11-24-2010 @ 9:49PM
smapplebee said...I believe anorexia is more closely related to a traumatic event in the life of the anorexic. My friend lost her husband in an accident. She was a stay at home Mom with four small children. She had always been happy and healthy. Mourning her husband, she lost her appetite. Eventually she lost her battle with anorexia. Scientists look for an easy answer. They could learn a lot from talking with the families.
Reply
11-24-2010 @ 10:46PM
Linda said...My eating disorders started when I was in my early 20's. Memories and flashbacks to what my father did to me when I was very young. I tried so hard to bury those memories for a long time. He died when I was 20 so I never got to confront him. He detested me, I don't believe a so-called man could have sexual thoughts about a 4 year old child. Doesn't make any sense to me. I've dragged this around with me for decades. I want to bury it and learn how to live.
11-25-2010 @ 12:19AM
Sendai said...To the poster with Anorexia, you seem quite accepting of it. Since you refuse to get help, why should anyone feel sorry for you? You ARE raising your kids to have the disorder because you refuse to get help, You don't have to impose your food rules on your kids. But you still want everyone to feel sorry for you. You're going to eventually die of the disease. But I suppose the guilt of leaving your family is. o.k. The incest victim is using her anorexia as an excuse and refuses to get professional help. You couldn't have control when you were incested, so now you use lack of food to gain control.
Anorexia can be cured just like everything else but you're going to have to WANT it and WORK at it. Anorexics are like Alchoholics. It's a form of manipulation and control. I bet if people ignored your your Anexoria you'd stop it because you'd get no feedback or pity. YOU have the choice of either living or dying. Your choice will reflect on your kids, your family.
Reply
11-25-2010 @ 8:49AM
Anonymous said...That is one of the most ridiculous posts I have ever read. Seriously. I'm embarrassed for you.
I once struggled with anorexia. I didn't want anyone's pity. And their attention was irrelevant to what was going on with me. You may think that I am "just saying that" but it's true. Anorexia is complex. You can't assume you know anything at all about an anorexic without knowing them personally. FWIW, I have no history of trauma and grew up in a family that practiced healthy eating habits. And I never thought I was fat. I just didn't realize how skinny I had gotten.
I have read research linking anorexia to autism in girls. Of course, not all anorexic girls have autism, and not all autistic girls are anorexic. But I think the underlying genetic element probably impacted me. BTW, I do not have a diagnosis of autism, but my daughter does. And I likely have some traits. But really, Sendai, you shouldn't make such accusatory assumptions. It's not helpful at all. In fact, it's hurtful.
12-02-2010 @ 5:40PM
blonde_punk1 said...There is not a cure from Anorexia, you can learn to be "free" from it, but it never goes away completely.
You are completely ignorant and crealy need to do some major research before you open your mouth again! I wish I could slap you!
12-02-2010 @ 4:36PM
Bry said...Burn in hell.
12-02-2010 @ 7:03PM
anonymous2 said...You are an idiot. Eating disorders are so much more then a cry for help or attention. I agree they are very much like an addiction, like alcoholism however people don't become alcoholics or develop addictions or eating disorders as a way to manipulate people. As someone who has and is suffering from bulimia and anorexia for the last 11 years I can attest that that is not true. Its not a sympathy ploy. I don't feel bad for myself and I am not trying to seek out pity from others. It is for me a coping mechanism for things in my life I feel I can't handle. Its a way of dealing with abuse in my past, my own perfectionistic expectations, family pressures and my own emotions.
How do you know the poster with anorexia is not getting help? I am anoretic/bulimic. I have also been seeing a therapist for several years. As far as saying we have a choice, I agree. We have a choice to take the appropriate steps to begin recovery, its a decision we alone can make for ourselves. But when it comes to food currently, I have no choice I cannot say "I choose to not be bulimic anymore". 11 years ago I also couldn't say "No I think I won't become anorexic". There was no choice, it wasn't a decision made. It was something that grew and evolved into a disorder over a very long period of time. . However, in the future once time passes and I develop more effective healthier coping mechanisms I will have more of a choice then I do now.
Your comment was harsh, and ignorant.
12-02-2010 @ 5:15PM
mack said...How dare you make such ignorrant disgusting comments on something I'm guessing you know little to nothing about. As someone who has dealt with an eating disorder for the last five years and has friends that suffer from them as well, I can tell you it has absoultely nothing with the desire for people to feel sympathy for you. In fact it rarely has anything to do with being thin at all. Its about control, its a disorder that people develop as a coping mechanism. How dare you trivialize the living hell that these people have been going through for years.
The mother wasn't enforcing her habits on her kids, she just didnt keep the unhealthy food in her house. The incest victim is coping with the awful things that happened to her, how disgusting of a person are you to think that its ok to tell her she just doesn't want help. You have NO idea what she went through.
And no anorexia is never COMPLETELY cured, you go in to recovery and you learn to cope with and overpower your disorder, its always there though.
You're a despicable person, get a clue.
12-04-2010 @ 1:31PM
kelsey said...If people ignored my eating disorder? Id be dead.
This is not about attention. I'd love to see you say that to a cancer patient because developing an ED is the same way; you have no choice.
Your ignorance disgusts me, but also saddens me. It pains me to know idiotic people like you actually exist. You should be ashamed of yourself.
As to the topic, I do believe genetics play a role in some EDs. However, im the only person in my immediate and distant family with an ED. While I have a history of trauma that caused me to develop Bulimia, I was restricting my food and using ED bahviors and rituals years before that. I've had an ED for 10 years; im 20 years old.