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The brain's response to taste stimuli is linked to high anxiety and a desire for thinness that could play a role in anorexia nervosa, researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus found
The researchers, led by Dr. Guido Frank, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, analyzed a group of 52 patients with anorexia mental undergoing magnetic resonance imaging function of the brain.
They found that their brain response was higher than those in the control group of 52 healthy participants, representing a biologic marker for the disease. At the same time, this brain response was linked to high anxiety and lower weight gain in people treated for anorexia nervosa.
Dopamine reward cycle
Dr. Frank discovered that when these patients limited their diet, a brain reward circuit associated with dopamine, a neurotransmitter, became more active but also caused anxiety. This makes the food avoidance worse and perpetuates the often deadly illness.
"When you lose weight, your brain's response increases. But instead of driving while eating, we believe that it increases anxiety in anorexia nervosa, which makes them want to restrict more. This then becomes a vicious circle, "
Frank said.
The study involved 56 adolescent girls and young adults with anorexia nervosa between the ages of 11 and 21 and 52 control participants in good health of the same age.They all learned to associate colorful shapes with or without obtaining a sweet solution.Sometimes, when they expected to have sugar, they received nothing, and sometimes they did not get sugar.
Those who suffered from eating disorders reacted more strongly to the unpredictable dopamine.
Better Prevention of Damage
The researchers found that higher brain response was , the greater the avoidance of damage in people with anorexia nervosa was high.Agency avoidance is a measure of anxiety for excessive anxiety and fears. pushes the search for the min and promotes bodily dissatisfaction.
The higher the brain response, the lower the weight gain during treatment.
This brain reaction acts on the hypothalamus, which stimulates the diet. anorexia nervosa group. The researchers hypothesized that this could help neutralize and repel the signals to eat.
"An improved response of the dopamine reward system is an adaptation to famine," the authors write. "People vulnerable to anorexia nervosa may be particularly sensitive to dietary restrictions and response adaptations during the developmental period [mid-adolescence]."
According to Frank, the behavior of anorexia could alter brain circuits mechanisms. Those who are already worried about the shape and weight become even more worried.
And a strong response that says "feed me" could be overwhelming and trigger more dietary restrictions instead of eating.
The study noted that sweet things, those with eating disorders combine taste with weight gain and try to avoid it. Frank discovered that the brain activation of the anorexia group was inversely related to any pleasant experience of eating sugar.
"Our data raise the possibility that adolescents with anorexia nervosa in this study are negatively conditioned to sweet taste.The association with dopamine release through the largest reward circuit (brain) , "
the authors of the study wrote.
Frank believes that these ideas could lead to new treatments for eating disorders.
Institute of Mental Health, the National Institutes of Health, the University of Colorado Neuroscience Program of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Center for the Advancement of Translational Science Colorado Science and Translational Science Awards.
Frank GKW, DeGuzman TM, Shott ME, ML Laudenslager, Rossi B, Pryor T
Association of brain reward learning reward with damage avoidance, Ga weight and connectivity effective hypothalamic in anorexia nervosa in the adolescent
JAMA Psychiatry. Posted online 19 July 2018. doi: 10.1001 / jamapsychiatry.2018.2151
Image: Laura Lewis / Flickr
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