A European project will investigate the factors leading to obesity, considered by many as an eating disorder and a disease that affects up to 60 per cent of the adult populations of some European countries.
The project is aimed at furthering the understanding of the aetiology of obesity and the eating disorders Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa. There has been concern that inappropriate and unnecessary attention to body weight could trigger these last two disorders.
Rates of obesity in children are estimated to be up to 30 per cent in some countries. At the same time, diseases such as anorexia and bulimia affect a significant minority of individuals. Researchers say therefore that obesity, and anorexia and bulimia may be diseases at opposite ends of the same spectrum and have similar factors in common.
The scientists will study environment, genome and brains of individuals from hundred of families in order to identify and measure psychosocial variables and traits which are risk factors for these diseases.
Personal, environmental and developmental risk factors are being investigated by studying pairs of sisters, one of whom has a disorder. The researchers will also look at the role of dieting in triggering eating disorders, by evaluating obese adolescents in 1000 twin families, and study candidate genes to define genetic risk factors in 600 families and 600 cases and controls with the three disorders.
There will also be an investigation of the neuronal responses to food in the brain, by using scanning techniques (magnetic resonance imaging, PET). Both males and females from across Europe are to be included to account for gender and cultural differences.
The researchers hope the results will be used to improve the level of healthy eating in the population by reducing the risk factors for eating disorders and obesity. They also plan to educate experts and the general public about the reasons these disorders develop, thus removing stigma and discrimination, and introduce new pharmacological treatments.