THE ESSENTIAL
- Binge eating disorder is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating (eating a large amount of food in a short time, associated with a feeling of loss of control).
- This disorder is responsible for significant suffering and affects almost as many men as women.
- It is more often diagnosed most often beyond the age of 20, but there are earlier forms which can be more severe.
Binge eating affects 3 to 5% of the French population, according to the High Health Authority (HAS). At the same time, 4 to 16% of children are victims of physical abuse and 1 in 10 are victims of neglect or psychological abuse each year, according to a HAS report in 2014.
Binge eating disorder: the stress of trauma causes the brain to malfunction
Virginia Tech scientist Professor Sora Shin and her lab team have identified how early trauma can alter the brain and increase the risk of binge eating later in life. A brain mechanism that typically provides signals to stop eating could be impaired by childhood trauma. His studyconducted on mice, was published on December 12 in Nature Neuroscience. The researcher found that stress in mice that were separated from their litter mates can trigger lifelong changes in eating behavior.
“We wanted to know the mechanism underlying how early trauma induces these eating disorders.Sora Shin said in a communiqué. What we discovered is a specific brain circuit that is vulnerable to stress, rendering it dysfunctional.”
To identify the link between the disorder and early trauma, Sora Shin and his team studied the impact of a hormone in the brain called leptin. Leptin has long been known to suppress appetite and weight gain by signaling the brain to stop eating.
TCA: studying the brain will make it possible to develop therapeutic strategies
The team found that in mice that experienced stress early in life and exhibited binge-like behavior, leptin is less effective in a part of the brain, called the “lateral hypothalamus”, where many behaviors are regulated. Without these signals from the brain, the overeating continues. Digging deeper, the researchers identified neurons in another part of the brain that respond to message from leptin and the lateral hypothalamus, thereby regulating binge eating.
“There is still a lot of research to be donepointed out Sora Shin, but by knowing the molecule and the specific brain receptors to target, we can now provide information and the basis for developing therapeutic strategies for this disorder.”