I can not say for certain when I read it in the literature or where
but BOTH were related to zinc deficiencies.
Ron
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Black <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: TIPS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 1999 10:31 AM
Subject: Biological basis of anorexia and bulimia
> Carol Hayes posted a query on TIPS about the biological basis of
> anorexia and bulimia which reached me with an error message, and it
> won't let me quote it back to the list. So it's possible it never
made
> it to many on the list.
>
> Anyway, in answer to her question, I know of a rare case (Weller &
> Weller, 1982) in which an adolescent who had the classic signs of
> anorexia turned out to have a hypothalmic tumor. The well-known
> "lateral hypothalamic syndrome" of failure to eat or drink (with
slow
> recovery) results from damage to the lateral hypothalamus in
animals.
> However, it wasn't clear in this case whether the tumor specifically
> damaged the lateral area (probably caused massive damage everywhere
in
> the hypothalamus).
>
> However, this is a rare case, and as far as I know, hypothalamic
> damage is otherwise never found in association with anorexia. In
fact,
> Mrosovsky (1984), an animal researcher, specifically rejects the
> Wellers' claim that the tumor and the anorexia were "related".
>
> As for more recent work, I'm not aware of any progress in linking
> anorexia to biology. Kalat (1998) confirms this, noting "the
> biological predispositions to anorexia are as yet unknown".
>
> As for bulimia, there's interest in hormonal mediation. For example,
a
> study I talk about in class is Geracioti & Liddle (1988). They
> reported that bulimics release less CCK, long under investigation as
a
> satiety hormone for food intake, after a meal than do normals. This
> suggests that the cause of bulimia (the binging, anyway) is due to
> lessened ability to stop eating because of deficient release of the
> CCK stop hormone. However, I believe that no one has shown that
> exogenous CCK is an effective treatment for bulimia (and it
apparently
> can cause horrible panic attacks).
>
> Recent animal research implicating another stop hormone, leptin, may
> turn out to be more promising. It's mostly in the news in relation
to
> attempts to use it to control obesity (it doesn't, apparently)
> but it's possible that it or a similar hormone has a role in
bulimia.
> Turning again to handy Kalat, he says that "people with bulimia tend
> to have higher-than-normal levels of peptide YY [a start eating
> hormone]...lower-than-normal levels of CCK...and signs of either
> decreased serotonin production or decreased receptor sensitivity for
> serotonin (p. 294). Of course, whether this is cause or effect of
the
> bulimia isn't clear.
>
> -Stephen
>
>
> References
>
> Weller, R., & Weller, E. Anorexia nervosa in a patient with an
> infiltrating tumor of the hypothalamus. American Journal of
> Psychiatry, 139, 824--
>
> Mrosovsky, N. (1984). Animal models: anorexia yes, nervosa no.
> In: The psychobiology of Anorexia Nervosa. K Pirke and D.
> Ploog, Eds. Heidelberg: springer-Verlag.
>
> Kalat, J. (1998) Biological psychology (6th ed.)
>
> Geracioti, T., & Liddle, R. (1988). Impaired cholecystokinin
secretion
> in bulimia nervosa. The New England Journal of Medicine, 319,
683--
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
----
> Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext
2470
> Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
> Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Lennoxville, QC
> J1M 1Z7
> Canada Department web page at
http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
> Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
> http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
----
>
>
>
