This week hasn't been filled with news from the ED world- or at least not news worth repeating. There are, however, several stories arising from research that help to shed some light on the underlying neurochemistry.

Girls with ADHD are more likely to suffer from bulimia. This was a research study out of UVa that looked at girls diagnosed with ADHD. "Adolescent girls with ADHD frequently develop body-image dissatisfaction and may go through repeating cycles of binge eating and purging behaviors that are common in bulimia nervosa," said University of Virginia psychologist Amori Yee Mikami, who led the study.

She goes on to say, "Girls with ADHD may be more at risk of developing eating problems as adolescents because they already have impulsive behaviors that can set them apart from their peers," Mikami said. "As they get older, their impulsivity may make it difficult for them to maintain healthy eating and a healthy weight, resulting in self-consciousness about their body image and the binging and purging symptoms."

(Quotes taken from a report by Science Daily.)

Eating disorders common in those with narcolepsy. Narcolepsy researchers had observed that many people with this condition had a higher-than-average body weight, and tended to consume lots of sweets. So they looked into this correlation and found that one in four people with narcolepsy met the criteria for a clinical eating disorder. Many were found to binge several times a week. Interestingly, the binge eating was NOT associated with the higher body weights; that is, the average weight of narcoleptics who reported binge behaviors was not significantly different than the weights of narcoleptics who didn't binge. "These data make it clear that narcolepsy is not just a sleeping disorder, but a hypothalamic disease with a much broader symptom profile," said lead researcher Hal Droogleever Fortuyn in a press release.

This appears to be the good stuff that's new in the world of eating disorders. As always, if you find a good story, pass it along. My email is in my profile.