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A new UK study just released in BJOG (An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology) reports that women with eating disorders have reduced fertility and negative prenatal attitudes regarding pregnancy.

In a new study, an international team of scientists has identified possible genetic variations that could influence a patient’s recovery from an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Researchers believe their findings may augment development of effective interventions for the most treatment-resistant patients with these disorders.
 

In the July issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, John Arcelus, MD, PhD and his colleagues at the University of Leicester, England, analyzed data collected from 36 studies published between 1966-2010. The researchers found anorexia nervosa to be the most deadly psychiatric diagnosis, with bulimia nervosa and EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified) presenting significant risk as well. 

In May, the Academy of Eating Disorders (AED) published the 2nd edition of its guidelines for detecting and managing eating disorders in primary care practice.  Eating Disorders: Critical Points for Early Recognition and Medical Risk Management in the Care of Individuals with Eating Disorders can be downloaded from the academy's Web site. There is also a brochure that can be downloaded for printing and distribution.

Eating meals with their families helps keep kids slimmer and healthier, a new study finds. Researchers pooled data from 17 earlier studies and found that youngsters who joined family members regularly for meals were 24 percent more likely to eat healthy foods than kids who rarely ate with their families. They were also less likely to suffer from eating disorders.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on March 31 that it had cleared Mandometer® for the treatment of patients with eating disorders. Mandometer® is an innovative device that provides biofeedback.
 

Women with extremely low body fat, including runners and dancers, as well as women with eating disorders, are prone to develop hypothalamic amenorrhea, a condition in which their menstrual periods cease, triggering such serious problems as infertility and osteoporosis. Now, a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) offers the first definitive proof that a lack of leptin contributes to hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA) and that treatment with a synthetic form of the hormone can restore fertility and reduce the risk of bone fractures in this group of patients.

Latest research conducted for new eating disorder charity The Succeed Foundation, in partnership with the University of the West of England (UWE), has found that 30% of women would trade at least one year of their life to achieve their ideal body weight and shape.

 

People who are compulsive eaters show similar activity in the same brain regions as people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol, according to new research.

Do people overeat because they experience less reward from eating or because they experience more reward from eating? In the March 23, 2011 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, Oregon Research Institute (ORI) senior scientist Eric Stice, Ph.D. and colleagues, including Dana Small, Ph.D. from the J.B. Pierce Laboratory in New Haven Connecticut, provide possible answers to the chicken or egg dilemma of overeating.

Many American adolescents suffer from an eating disorder and struggle with related psychiatric disorders, including suicidal tendencies, new research reveals. "The prevalence of these disorders is higher than previously expected in this age range, and the patterns of [co-existing illnesses], role impairment and suicidality indicate that eating disorders represent a major public health concern," the researchers wrote.

Women suffering from anorexia or bulimia draw themselves with prominently different characteristics than women who do not have eating disorders and who are considered of normal weight. This has been revealed in a new joint study from the University of Haifa, Soroka University Medical Center and Achva Academic College, Israel, published in The Arts in Psychotherapy.

Two Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) faculty members, Pietro Cottone, PhD, an assistant professor of pharmacology and psychiatry and Michael Silverstein, MD, an associate professor of pediatrics, were each awarded the prestigious National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientisits (BRAINS) grant with ten other investigators from around the country. The BRAINS award called for innovative and groundbreaking research projects from early stage investigators to explore the complex mechanisms underlying mental disorders or novel treatments and prevention strategies.

 

Post-traumatic stress disorder can affect soldiers after combat or ordinary people who have undergone harrowing experiences. Of course, feelings of anxiety are normal and even desirable - they are part of what helps us survive in a world of real threats. But no less crucial is the return to normal - the slowing of the heartbeat and relaxation of tension - after the threat has passed. People who have a hard time "turning off" their stress response are candidates for post-traumatic stress syndrome, as well as anorexia, anxiety disorders and depression.

 

The more time adolescent girls spend in front of Facebook, the more their chances of developing a negative body image and various eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia and exaggerated dieting. This has been shown in a new study from the University of Haifa.

 

Scientists in Connecticut have carried out one of the first psychological studies into eating disorders in Native American (NA) populations. The research, published in The International Journal of Eating Disorders, provides new insights into the extent to which Native American populations experience eating disorders, revealing that women are more likely to report behavioral symptoms then men, while challenging views that NA men and ethnically white men will experience different psychological symptoms.

 

For parents wanting to reduce the negative influence of TV on their children, the first step is normally to switch off the television set. But a new study suggests that might not be enough. It turns out indirect media exposure, i.e., having friends who watch a lot of TV, might be even more damaging to a teenager's body image.

A recent report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics shows hospitalizations for eating disorders in children under 12 increased 119 percent between 1999 and 2006.

Hospitalizations of children younger than 12 years rose by 119% from 1999 to 2006, a report issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) revealed in the journal Pediatrics. Overall, including all age groups, the same period saw a 15% increase in hospitalizations for eating disorders.
 

Scientists at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have identified both common and rare gene variants associated with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa.

The eating disorder anorexia nervosa causes potentially serious eye damage, suggests a small study published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Patients who undergo family-based anorexia treatments have a higher chance of attaining full remission 6 to 12 months after treatment, compared to individual therapy, say researchers in a new article published in Archives of General Psychiatry, October issue.

While the start of college is a positive, momentous event for many young people, it also can be an episode that pushes some into a dangerous battle with eating disorders, says University of Alabama at Birmingham Associate Professor of Psychology Mary Boggiano, Ph.D., who fought her own battle against bulimia as a college student.

New research finds that a history of sexual abuse, regardless of the victim's gender or age when the abuse occurred, correlates strongly with a lifetime diagnosis of multiple psychiatric disorders.

Normal weight and underweight teenage girls who falsely believe they are overweight are at significantly greater risk of succumbing to unnecessary and unsafe weight-loss behaviors than girls who can accurately assess their weight status, according to new research by a University of Illinois expert in eating disorders and body-image perception.
 

For the first time, scientists have discovered a possible biological culprit in the development of eating disorders during puberty: a type of estrogen called estradiol.

College cheerleaders are at high risk for body image issues and eating disorders - and may be affected by how revealing their uniforms are, according to a study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's 57th Annual Meeting in Baltimore.

A team of American psychologists and neuroscientists have found that adult brain volume, which can be reduced by Anorexia Nervosa, can be regained. The research, published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, revealed that through specialist treatment patients with this eating disorder can reverse this symptom and regain grey matter volume.

Imagine stuffing yourself with a day's worth of food in two hours or less. Imagine feeling disgusted, depressed and guilty once you finally stop. Then imagine doing it again, repeatedly and uncontrollably, once a week or more for months on end. You have just imagined yourself with binge eating disorder (BED), a psychiatric condition similar to other eating disorders like bulimia, minus the countervailing purging behaviour, and compulsive overeating, but without the constant fantasizing about food. Some BED sufferers, in fact, have very negative associations with food. Moreover, until now, researchers knew little about the underlying causes of BED.

Binge eating disorder, or BED - a condition that has lingered in the appendix of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, since the last edition was published nearly 20 years ago - would be formally promoted to the main manual under proposed revisions for the next edition of DSM.

Minnesota’s senators, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, as well as Iowa’s Sen. Tom Harkin, introduced the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders (FREED) Act on Tuesday, which would direct the federal government to track, screen, diagnose and treat eating disorders. The bill is the first of its kind in the Senate and will improve access to treatment for people suffering from eating disorders, especially teens on government assistance.

Teen eating disorders can take a devastating toll on adolescents — especially teen girls. To help protect your teen, understand the possible causes of teen eating disorders and know how to talk to your teen about healthy eating habits.

Diagnostic cutoffs for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa may be too strict, a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital has found.

The standard criteria psychiatrists use to diagnose anorexia nervosa and bulimia may be too rigid and exclude many patients who urgently require treatment for eating disorders, a new study suggests.

The television news and entertainment media are missing the mark when it comes to communicating realistic and helpful information about health and weight to Americans, according to an expert media panel recently assembled at Pace University in New York City.

The television news and entertainment media are missing the mark when it comes to communicating realistic and helpful information about health and weight to Americans, according to an expert media panel assembled today at Pace University in New York City.

What parents need to realize, food experts say, is that what they say and do is just as important as what they put on their kid's plate.

Kaiser Permanente study first to find program stops binge eating and saves patients money

Some of the same brain mechanisms that fuel drug addiction in humans accompany the emergence of compulsive eating behaviors and the development of obesity in animals, according to research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of Health.

Obtaining therapy via teleconference is just as effective as face-to-face sessions, according to a new research by Stephane Guay, a psychiatry professor at the Universite de Montreal.

The obesity epidemic is hitting children harder than ever, with 7.3 percent of boys and 5.5 percent of girls classified as extremely obese in a California study, researchers from Kaiser Permanente report.

They would love to be perfect mothers. Instead, they feel ashamed and inadequate, and fearful that their children might inherit their eating difficulties.

Scientists at the University of Liverpool argue that anti-obesity drugs fail to provide lasting benefits for health and wellbeing because they tackle the biological consequences of obesity, and not the important psychological causes of overconsumption and weight gain.

Diabetics, under the gun to better manage their disease by controlling their food intake and weight, may find themselves in the sticky wicket of needing treatment that makes them hungry, researchers said.

Undergraduate women who join a sorority are more likely to judge their own bodies from an outsider's perspectiveand display higher levels of bulimic attitudes and behaviors.

UK psychiatrists have announced they are concerned about the harmful influence of the media on people's body image and are calling for a new editorial code to stop the promotion of unhealthily thin bodies and making eating disorders appear glamorous.
 

The control and perfectionism that set Olympic athletes apart from their peers at lower levels of competition often have a darker side, according to Kimberly Dennis, M.D., a leading psychiatrist specializing in eating disorder treatment.

New proposed changes posted for leading manual of mental disorders.

People with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa have excess levels of fat in their bone marrow, U.S. researchers have found.

A team of scientists at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and the National Institutes of Health have piloted psychotherapy for the prevention of excessive weight gain in teenage girls deemed 'at-risk' for obesity.

Certain kinds of talk therapy and guided self-help are both more likely than behavioral weight loss treatment to keep people free from binge eating disorder, according to a new study.

Several maladaptive eating behaviors, beyond anorexia, can affect women. Indeed, some 10 to 15 percent of women have maladaptive eating behaviours and attitudes according to new study from the Université de Montréal and...
 

The premise that hunger makes food look more appealing is a widely held belief just ask those who cruise grocery store aisles on an empty stomach, only to go home with a full basket and an empty wallet.

The causes of obesity are complex and individual, but it is clear that chronic overeating plays a fundamental role. But when this behaviour becomes compulsive and out of control, it is often classified as "food addiction" -...
 

In an unprecedented show of concern, The Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), Eating Disorder Coalition (EDC), International Association for Eating Disorder Professionals (IADEP), and National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) have joined forces and are urging focus on health and lifestyle rather than weight as a measurement of well-being...
 

Binge eating disorder typically includes periods of excessive overeating. However, a person with a binge eating disorder does not subsequently induce purging (vomiting), as is the case with bulimia.

Binge eating can occur on its own, or alongside other disorders or conditions, such as Prader-Willi disorder, or a lesion of the hypothalamus gland...