Eating disorders and the environmental regulation of the genome. FAED, Eating Disorders Program

Abstract

Accumulating evidence supports the view that eating-disorder (ED) etiology involves the environmental regulation of genetic potentials. This presentation reviews findings from recent molecular-genetic studies that implicate genetic effects acting upon psychiatric, metabolic, and immune components in ED phenomenology. It also reviews findings from epigenetic studies that suggest, intriguingly, that a parallel array of genes may be subject to environmental regulation via epigenetic effects–resulting from perinatal, childhood and later-life stresses and (according to preliminary evidence from our lab) reversible effects owing to prolonged dietary restraint. Although the available genetic and epigenetic data are in too-nascent a state to guide innovations in treatment, findings frame a multifactorial conceptualization of ED etiopathology that helps reduce stigmatizing misconceptions, and promotes self-acceptance on the part of affected people.