Binge Eating May Be Genetic

People with binge eating disorders may in fact be predisposed to the condition, according to a study published by Harvard researchers on Monday.

Researchers found that binge eating disorder is two times more likely to occur in a person if one of their immediate family members is also afflicted by this disorder.

Furthermore, the study’s results showed that members of the family of a binge eater are also two and a half times more likely to qualify as obese than the general population.

According to lead author James I. Hudson, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, binge eating disorder is not just a disorder of will power, but is strongly related to innate predisposition.

“People differ based off their underlying vulnerability to develop this condition,” said Hudson, who is also an associate professor of psychiatry at McLean Hospital.

Defined as the consumption of vast amounts of food in a short period of time twice or more a week for an extended period of time, binge eating disorder is also characterized by a feeling of a loss of control over the experience.

The condition differs from bulimia nervosa in that individuals do not participate in common purging techniques such as vomiting or the use of laxative after the binge episode.

The idea of a genetic component in eating disorders is not a new idea.

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa have both been identified to have some sort of genetic tie. Skeptics have often posited that binge eating disorder might solely be a non-specific pattern of eating, thus suggesting no real difference between the obese with binge eating disorder and those without.

This study however shows that binge eating disorder may have similar genetic underpinnings as other eating disorders.

According to Hudson, the study has further implications in relation to the obesity epidemic in the United States.

Hudson said that research on the causes of obesity has traditionally focused on the environment and metabolism, with aspects of brain and behavior largely ignored.

Now, however, the two fields may be integrated in the study of eating disorders.

“Genetic factors affecting impulsive behaviors such as drug use and deregulation of mood...can now be applied to obesity,” he said.

According to Pamela K. Keel, associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Iowa, a study soon to be published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders finds that the general public is likely to view eating-disorder patients as responsible for their own condition.

By contrast, the study finds, the general public is less likely to blame schizophrenia victims for their condition—which is better-understood to have a biological basis.

Keel said that Hudson’s study might result in a reduction of the stigma attached to binge eating.

“Perhaps as people become more informed, it will reduce the extent to which these people are blamed for their disorders.”

Hudson and his co-workers used a pool of 300 obese individuals—150 of whom were diagnosed with binge eating disorder—along with 900 of their immediate family members.