According to a Catalan research group, those who suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and obesity may share certain neurobiological correlations related to reward pathways and neural circuits linked to food . This study shows that the treatment of these patients should focus on self-control problems.
As the researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), the University of Barcelona and the CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN) point out, ” groups with extreme weight conditions (CEP) can share factors of biological risk and neurocognitive phenotypes “. Or put another way, those who suffer from anorexia nervosa or are obese may have the ability to make certain decisions altered in the same way.
Overeating is a symptom of a neural difference between motivation and reward in relation to the inhibitory response. In vulnerable subjects, overeating can disturb the balance between circuits, increasing the reinforcement value of the diet and decreasing the activity of the circuits related to control and inhibition . This dysfunction could eventually lead to binge eating.
In the words of the study’s principal investigator, Fernández-Aranda, ” our results support the hypothesis that decision-making capacity is affected in these patients .” And it is that according to the same group of researchers, it has been established that those impulsive people show limitations in learning the appropriate associations between reward and punishment.
Treatment for anorexia and obesity
So what treatments should patients follow? From the Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge they explain that based on this study the treatment of patients with anorexia, nerves and obesity “should focus on self-control problems, impulsive behaviors or the deficit in decision-making that characterize these disorders.
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