Depression,anorexia,autism and SCD

[Guest guest]

I remembered that I once read that there was a link between anorexia and

autism. I found several links about that.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4630705.stm

I also found a link between depression and carbohydrate malabsorption.

Could there be a subgroup of girls who like to stop eating in order to

avoid deperssion:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed & cmd=Retrieve & dopt=Abstra\

ctPlus & list_uids=15861016 & query_hl=14 & itool=pubmed_DocSum

1: J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2005 May;40(5):561-5.Click here to read

Links

Malabsorption of carbohydrates and depression in children and

adolescents.

* Varea V,

* de Carpi JM,

* Puig C,

* Alda JA,

* Camacho E,

* Ormazabal A,

* Artuch R,

* Gomez L.

Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition,

Hospital Sant Joan de Deu, Barcelona, Spain. varea@...

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown an association between sugar

malabsorption and depressive symptoms in adult women. Incompletely

absorbed sugars may form nonabsorbable complexes with tryptophan, an

amino acid precursor of serotonin, decreasing its availability. As

serotonin is the most important neurotransmitter involved in

depressive disorders, its depletion could lead to the onset of

depression. METHODS: The authors' aim was to study the possible

association between malabsorption of sugars (lactose and fructose)

and depressive symptoms in adolescent patients of Spanish origin.

The authors studied two groups of patients. Group G included 14

patients previously diagnosed with sugar intolerance. In these, the

authors assessed depressive symptoms. Group P consisted of seven

patients suffering from major depression. In these, the authors

performed functional sugar absorption tests. The authors studied the

metabolic pathway of tryptophan in both groups. RESULTS: In the

group with sugar malabsorption, there was a 28.5% prevalence of

depressive symptoms that was higher than expected in our population.

In the group with depression, the authors found a higher than

expected prevalence of sugar intolerance (71.42% versus 15% in

controls). CONCLUSIONS: The unexpected prevalences obtained for the

groups studied suggest that there may be an association between

sugar intolerance and depressive symptoms during adolescence.

PMID: 15861016 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

HTH,Mimi