Genes May Link Eating Disorder Types

Eating disorders are inherited to a substantial degree, mounting evidence suggests. The means by which such disorders are inherited seems to be complex.

For instance, in the May International Journal of Eating Disorders, Walter Kaye, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues in North America and Europe reported the following: When a person with bulimia nervosa has a relative with an eating disorder, chances are good that the relative also has bulimia nervosa, and that when an individual with bulimia nervosa and a history of anorexia nervosa has a relative with an eating disorder, chances are good that the relative has the same. Nonetheless, these scenarios don't always develop so neatly.

Kaye and his colleagues studied one group of subjects who had bulimia nervosa and another group who had bulimia nervosa and a history of anorexia nervosa; they also studied a number of their relatives who had an eating disorder. The researchers found that while bulimia often runs in one family and anorexia in another, sometimes both illnesses occur in the same family, suggesting some common genetic factors.

Yet what common genetic factors might bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa possess? There might be certain psychological traits common to persons with both illnesses.

In fact, Kaye and his team will now attempt to see whether certain psychological traits common to bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa patients, such as perfectionism and body-image distortion, can be linked to specific genes.

“It is more likely that genes correlate with such traits, not the diagnosis,” he told Psychiatric News.

The latest study from Kaye and his group was funded by the Price Foundation, a private foundation based in Europe. However, the researchers are receiving $10 million from the National Institute of Mental Health to continue their eating disorder genetics studies, which appear to be the largest to date on the subject.

An abstract of the study, “Genetic Analysis of Bulimia Nervosa: Methods and Sample Description,” is posted online at<www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/108068606/ABSTRACT>. More information about the studies of Kaye and his team, as well as about their need to find appropriate subjects for their studies, is posted at<www.anbn.org>.▪