What is different about anorexia nervosa sufferers that, in contrast to most dieters, enables them to maintain a persistent calorie deficit? Although no one can truthfully claim they know the full answer to that question, we do know that part of the answer most likely lies with serotonin (5-HT), a molecule that neurons use to communicate with each other.
I’ve written about serotonin in the context of anorexia nervosa before, so I’ll just do a brief summary of the important points here:
Given that serotonin mediates a lot of psychological and physiological traits associated with anorexia nervosa, and given that altering food intake affects how much serotonin is made in our bodies, it is no surprise that it has been a popular research target among eating disorder researchers.
Two important findings that are particularly relevant to the study I will discuss below are:
These findings suggest that individuals with AN may have premorbid (or intrinsic) abnormalities in the serotonergic system (elevated 5-HT activity compared to healthy controls), which may mediate behavioural and/or temperamental traits that in turn predispose these individuals to …
