Interesting article for WLSer's again.

[Guest guest]

For those who were looking....here it is again.

Carol Signore, MAT, MS, LMFT

RNY-HUP -1998-135 lbs.

www.myselfdesign.com

Study Links Binge Eating to Mutation in a Gene

March 20, 2003

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON, March 19 - Binge eaters who say they cannot help it

may have a point.

A study suggests a gene may contribute to the cause of

binge eating in some people. Researchers said they hoped

the finding would point the way to a pill that could bring

appetites under control.

The Swiss-German-American study makes the strongest case

yet that a genetic mutation can cause an eating disorder,

the researchers say. Researchers generally believe that

eating behavior is complex and cultural in its causes.

" Willpower is not always important to reduce weight, " said

Dr. Fritz Horber, the leader of the binge eating study at

the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich. " Some people can by

willpower. Some cannot, and I think these patients have a

hard time. "

The study is in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers have been trying to understand the reasons for

an epidemic of obesity, which raises the risk for heart

disease, diabetes and many other ailments. Abundant

high-calorie foods and sedentary habits are widely blamed

for the surge.

However, some researchers have also begun to link several

genes to obesity. Increasingly, eating problems are thought

to stem from a subtle interaction of lifestyle and multiple

genes.

Probably the most common eating disorder, binge eating

strikes up to four million Americans, according to the

National Institutes of Health. Binge eaters, who are

usually but not always overweight, frequently and

compulsively stuff themselves, often in secret, and feel

ashamed afterward.

In the study, the researchers focused on a gene previously

linked to obesity. Known as the melanocortin 4 receptor

gene, it makes a protein by that name that helps stimulate

appetite in the brain's hunger-regulating hypothalamus. If

a mutated gene makes too little protein, the body feels too

much hunger.

The researchers considered 469 severely obese white adults,

a quarter of them binge eaters. The disorder was much more

common among the 5 percent with the mutated gene.

Ravussin, a Louisiana State University researcher on

obesity genetics, said that without more biochemical proof,

he remained " a little bit skeptical " that the mutation -

and not others nearby on the same chromosome - are the

syndrome's precise cause.

But Dr. Habener, a diabetes expert at Boston's

Massachusetts General Hospital who was one of the writers

of an accompanying editorial, said the Swiss-led study

demonstrated either the " genetic cause or a very strong

association. "

Dr. Habener agreed with the researchers, who said future

drugs acting like the melanocortin 4 receptor protein might

compensate for the genetic defect.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/health/20GENE.html?ex=1049218634 & ei=1 &

en=97b6b63c3d110f33

Carol Signore, MAT, MS, LMFT

Private Practice: Ambler, PA

Clinical Memberships: 

   American Association of Marriage & Family Therapy

   Academy For Eating Disorders

Chairman AED Weight Loss Surgery SIG

Director: My Self Design

   A cognitive behavorial treatment program for Bariatric surgery patients

   see www.myselfdesign.com

[Guest guest]

For those who were looking....here it is again.

Carol Signore, MAT, MS, LMFT

RNY-HUP -1998-135 lbs.

www.myselfdesign.com

Study Links Binge Eating to Mutation in a Gene

March 20, 2003

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON, March 19 - Binge eaters who say they cannot help it

may have a point.

A study suggests a gene may contribute to the cause of

binge eating in some people. Researchers said they hoped

the finding would point the way to a pill that could bring

appetites under control.

The Swiss-German-American study makes the strongest case

yet that a genetic mutation can cause an eating disorder,

the researchers say. Researchers generally believe that

eating behavior is complex and cultural in its causes.

" Willpower is not always important to reduce weight, " said

Dr. Fritz Horber, the leader of the binge eating study at

the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich. " Some people can by

willpower. Some cannot, and I think these patients have a

hard time. "

The study is in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers have been trying to understand the reasons for

an epidemic of obesity, which raises the risk for heart

disease, diabetes and many other ailments. Abundant

high-calorie foods and sedentary habits are widely blamed

for the surge.

However, some researchers have also begun to link several

genes to obesity. Increasingly, eating problems are thought

to stem from a subtle interaction of lifestyle and multiple

genes.

Probably the most common eating disorder, binge eating

strikes up to four million Americans, according to the

National Institutes of Health. Binge eaters, who are

usually but not always overweight, frequently and

compulsively stuff themselves, often in secret, and feel

ashamed afterward.

In the study, the researchers focused on a gene previously

linked to obesity. Known as the melanocortin 4 receptor

gene, it makes a protein by that name that helps stimulate

appetite in the brain's hunger-regulating hypothalamus. If

a mutated gene makes too little protein, the body feels too

much hunger.

The researchers considered 469 severely obese white adults,

a quarter of them binge eaters. The disorder was much more

common among the 5 percent with the mutated gene.

Ravussin, a Louisiana State University researcher on

obesity genetics, said that without more biochemical proof,

he remained " a little bit skeptical " that the mutation -

and not others nearby on the same chromosome - are the

syndrome's precise cause.

But Dr. Habener, a diabetes expert at Boston's

Massachusetts General Hospital who was one of the writers

of an accompanying editorial, said the Swiss-led study

demonstrated either the " genetic cause or a very strong

association. "

Dr. Habener agreed with the researchers, who said future

drugs acting like the melanocortin 4 receptor protein might

compensate for the genetic defect.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/health/20GENE.html?ex=1049218634 & ei=1 &

en=97b6b63c3d110f33

Carol Signore, MAT, MS, LMFT

Private Practice: Ambler, PA

Clinical Memberships: 

   American Association of Marriage & Family Therapy

   Academy For Eating Disorders

Chairman AED Weight Loss Surgery SIG

Director: My Self Design

   A cognitive behavorial treatment program for Bariatric surgery patients

   see www.myselfdesign.com