Douglas Institute. Canada: A study led by Howard Steiger, PhD, head of the Douglas Mental Health
University Institute Eating Disorders Program (EDP), in Montreal, in
collaboration with Linda Booij, a researcher with Sainte-Justine
Hospital and an assistant professor at Queen's University, is the first
to observe effects suggesting that the longer one suffers from active
anorexia nervosa (AN), the more likely they are to show
disorder-relevant alterations in DNA methylation.
When methylation is altered, gene expression is also altered, and
when gene expression is altered, the expression of traits that are
controlled by those genes is also changed. In other words, altered
methylation can produce changes in emotional reactions, physiological
functions and behaviors. A report to be published in the International
Journal of Eating Disorders, entitled “DNA methylation in individuals
with Anorexia Nervosa and in matched normal-eater controls: A
genome-wide study,” is showing chronicity of illness in women with AN to
be associated with more pronounced alteration of methylation levels in
genes implicated in anxiety, social behavior, various brain and nervous
system functions, immunity, and the functioning of peripheral organs.
“These findings help clarify the point that eating disorders are not
about superficial body image concerns or the result of bad parenting.
They represent real biological effects of environmental impacts in
affected people, which then get locked in by too much dieting,” says Dr.
Steiger, Chief of the Eating Disorders Program at the Douglas Institute
and a professor of Psychiatry at McGill University.
“We already know that eating disorders, once established, have a
tendency to become more and more entrenched over time. These findings
point to physical mechanisms acting upon physiological and nervous
system functions throughout the body that may underlie many of the
effects of chronicity. All in all, they point to the importance of
enabling people to get effective treatments as early in the disorder
process as possible,” adds Dr. Steiger.
Exploring crucial questions
The results of this work imply that epigenetic mechanisms may underlie
some of the consequences of anorexia nervosa that affect nervous system
functioning, psychological status and physical health. If so, an
intriguing possibility arises: Does remission of anorexic symptoms
coincide with normalization (or resetting) of methylation levels (and
could such effects provide clues to more effective treatments)? Current
work at the Eating Disorders Program at the Douglas Institute is
oriented toward exploring exactly this question.