Frontiers in neuroendocrinology
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Front Neuroendocrinol · Oct 2008
ReviewBehavioral neuroendocrinology and treatment of anorexia nervosa.
Outcome in anorexia nervosa remains poor and a new way of looking at this condition is therefore needed. To this aim, we review the effects of food restriction and starvation in humans. It is suggested that body weight remains stable and relatively low when the access to food requires a considerable amount of physical activity. ⋯ The neural neuropeptide Y receptor system may be involved in the maintenance of the behavior of eating disorder patients because the localization of these receptors overlaps with the neural systems engaged in cue-conditioned eating in limbic and cortical areas. The eating behavior of patients with anorexia nervosa, and other eating disorders as well, is viewed as a cause of the psychological changes of the patients. Patients are trained to re-learn normal eating habits using external support and as they do, their symptoms, including the psychological symptoms, dissolve.