Research Highlights about Eating Disorders

The need to identify effective targets for intervention in anorexia nervosa is pressing, as patient outcomes are often poor. An NIMH-funded genome-wide association study suggests that metabolic processes may play an important role in the disorder, offering a promising new avenue for investigation.

In binge-eating disorder and bulimia nervosa, people experience recurrent and frequent episodes in which they eat unusually large amounts of food and feel a sense of loss of control.