Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a digestive hormone that stimulates fat and protein digestion, and promotes the feeling of satiety. CCK is released after food consumption to promote digestion (by releasing digestive enzymes from the pancreas and stimulating bile secretion). In rats and monkeys, injection of CCK induces satiety, though it seems (from what I’ve skimmed), the extent to which CCK regulates food intake in humans is not well-established. Previous research on the role of CCK in anorexia nervosa (AN) has found conflicting results, in part because of methodological issues related to measuring levels of CCK. In a recent study, Cuntz and colleagues (2013, freely available online), having developed a better assay for measuring CCK, wanted to clarify its role in AN patients.
The authors had the following goals and hypotheses (I omitted one):
Participants were 23 AN patients (10 AN-R, 13 AN-BP) and 8 healthy controls. CCK levels were measured after a standardised test meal between 7 – 8 a.m. following a 12-hour fast. This test was performed on three different occasions:
- Time point 1: Within first few days of admission with …