Eating Disorder Risk High Among Teens With Big Brains

A new research has claimed that teens having bigger brains are more prone to suffer from anorexia nervosa.

According to a study by researchers at the University of Colorado's School of Medicine, the girls with anorexia nervosa had a larger insula, a part of the brain active when we taste food, and a larger orbitofrontal cortex, a part of the brain that tells a person when to stop eating.

Orthorexia Nervosa | Eating Disorder - Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment
Are you a Health Food Junkie? Are you obsessed with what you eat all the time? You may be a victim of a condition called Orthorexia Nervosa.

Guido Frank, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at CU School of Medicine, and his colleagues report that the bigger brain may be the reason people with anorexia are able to starve themselves.

Frank said that while eating disorders are often triggered by the environment, there are most likely biological mechanisms that have to come together for an individual to develop an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa.

The researchers recruited 19 adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa and 22 in a control group and used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study brain volumes.

Anorexia Nervosa - Types Complications Causes Treatment FAQs
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder most commonly found among teenage girls. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a very low body weight, generally defined as 15% below the Body Mass Index.

Individuals with anorexia nervosa showed greater left orbitofrontal, right insular, and bilateral temporal cortex gray matter compared to the control group.

In individuals with anorexia nervosa, orbitofrontal gray matter volume related negatively with sweet tastes. An additional comparison of this study group with adults with anorexia nervosa and a healthy control group supported greater orbitofrontal cortex and insula volumes in the disorder across this age group as well.

Sleep Eating Disorders Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment
Sleep-related eating disorders are abnormal eating behaviors that occur during night. Sleep related eating disorder is a part of parasomnias.

This study was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Source-ANI