Some Science Behind Eating Disorders

Hi lovelies,

Lately, I've been feeling rather misunderstood. I feel often that I'm not taken very seriously by both my family and many people that I know. Recently, my mental stability has been teetering on the balance between 'Mostly Sane' and 'Fairly Unstable'. I feel a lot of this has had to do with the fact that my illness's that I struggle with are being undermined in their seriousness. While depression and anxiety are not too badly covered in today's society (although no where near as well as I'd like them to be covered), eating disorders are often and very badly understood. So I decided to pull together a little of the information I've learnt through my struggle with anorexia and maybe help you guys understand a little of the science behind these eating disorders - the actual brain chemistry.

People are often under the impression that eating disorders are a choice. That we choose to restrict, to purge and to over-exercise in the pursuit of our ‘perfect’ body. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve heard anorexia be called the ‘Rich White Girl’s Disease’. Not because a high percentage of anorexia sufferers happen to be white females from developed countries, but because it’s seen as a choice – a way to seek attention and gain recognition in our world.

It’s not. Let’s just say this right up. Anorexia, nor any other eating disorder is a choice. It is not a cry for attention and it is not a way to get noticed.

Unfortunately, many people (including many that I know, including a lovely women who has been in my life since I was 5 and my own father) still believe this. Today, I just wanted to write about some of the science behind eating disorders and why some of us get them and some of us don’t.

Eating disorders is a biological condition. It is predetermined whether one has the genetic traits of a restrictive eating disorder. There is nothing that can change that. However, what can change are the environmental factors. Eating disorders are triggered/activated by environmental factors. But, before we go into that, let’s have a look at the science-y stuff. :)

Eating disorders are all to do with chemicals. Studies show that those with restrictive eating disorders have different variations in 43 genes, including those to do with food regulation, than people without eating disorders. There is a lot of stuff out there investigating the idea that the dopaminergic reward systems in the brains of those with restrictive eating disorders are different than those in healthy ones. This is the system by which stimuli (effects on the body and brain, ie. intake of food by a normal person ) affect the body (intake of food causes the body function better, concentrate better, feel content etc.). This then acts as a positive reward and the body then comes to associate consuming food with feeling better.

What happens, basically, when someone with the traits for an eating disorder doesn’t eat for a while, their leptin levels drop. Leptin is a hormone that helps control appetite, reproductive function, metabolism and bone formation. It is the one responsible for making people feel cranky, irritated, moody and tired when they haven’t eaten. They can then read the signal to go and eat something. However, in someone with an eating disorder (or has the traits of one), when leptin levels drop, it flips a switch in their brain that activates genes that change the normal function of neurotransmitters in the brain. These dodgy ones now send out really wonky things like endorphins and adrenaline, which teaches the disordered person to associate not eating with feeling good.

I can personally testify to this. When I was restricting, I always felt really good about not eating. On one hand, it was because of the ‘yay no food means no calories and yay, no fatness’, but on the other hand, it was literally because I felt calmer and more alert. My head felt a lot clearer when I was not eating and I felt all buzzed and happy (well, as happy as a severely starving person can get).

The funny thing is - I have always felt this way. Even when I was young and naive and non-disordered, I still felt better when I wasn't eating. I distinctly remember wondering how not eating caused my mother to be angry and irritable when I just felt fine. However, because I didn't yet have the disordered thoughts that accompany this emptiness, I ate. I ate because I knew I should. And, and this is an important point - I enjoyed eating. Eating is enjoyable. That's why a lot of people with the genetic traits to develop eating disorders don't. Because they are able to remain objective and rational about food - they know it's necessary. And they can do that because they are lucky in that they haven't been exposed to the environmental triggers that others, with the same genes, have been exposed to (like me).

And that’s about as far as my understanding of science takes me. But hopefully, that gives you a little more information about the science of eating disorders and why they are not a choice.

However, not everyone with the genes for eating disorders actually ends up with one. Why? Because of the environmental triggers that surround us. Eating disorders do not rear their ugly heads until they are triggered by something in the environment. This is why eating disorders can come and go throughout a person’s life. However, if they know what they are likely to be triggered by, or know how to recognise the early signs and squash them quickly, the potential for a full relapse is much lower.

Environmental factors range from a really bad cold or sickness that causes food intake to drop dramatically for a while to more long term triggers like comments about their body or actually, just from living in the image obsessed, thin-idealising society that we live in.

Diagnosed cases of eating disorders are increasing. Maybe because we know more about them and so can more easily diagnose them. I know some people think it’s because we keep creating diseases and problems out of nothing – hello Rich White Girl’s Disease. But maybe, it’s because of the world and society that we live in. With triggers firing at us from left, right and center – it’s no wonder more and more people at developing eating disorders. Or at least that’s what I think.

Eating disorders are highly inheritable – with inheritance rates of 56%-84% estimated for anorexia. This doesn’t bode well for the children, siblings or parents of someone with an eating disorder. And, as you hopefully know now, eating disorders are triggered by environmental factors, including those that come from within your own household. So be careful, and look for signs, either in yourself or in others around you.

Okay, and that trailed into a bit of the ominous in that last paragraph. But, that’s really about it. I just wanted to share my limited knowledge of this stuff with you, in the hope I might dispel any more myths that eating disorders are a choice.