TULSA, Okla. - A researcher at a Tulsa clinic says a decade-long study into anorexia nervosa is beginning to reveal that those who suffer from the disease might have a genetic predisposition toward it.
The study, known as the Genetics of Anorexia Nervosa collaboration, is being done in eight cities in North America, including Tulsa, and two European cities.
It is funded by the Researcher Craig Johnson said that if a person has a family member who has had anorexia nervosa, she or he is 12 times more at risk of developing the illness.
"Genetics loads the gun. Environment pulls the trigger," said Johnson, the director of the eating disorders unit at Laureate Psychiatric Hospital in Tulsa and one of the study's principal researchers
People with anorexia nervosa — most of them young females — develop a strong aversion to food and have a distorted body image. Johnson said the research has helped to identify groups most at risk of developing the disease, such as girls ages 11 to 14.
No comments:
Post a Comment