Food choice and neural reward systems in adolescents with anorexia nervosa and atypical anorexia nervosa.

Background: Adolescence is a critical developmental period for the study of anorexia nervosa (AN), an illness characterized by extreme restriction of food intake. The maturation of the reward system during adolescence combined with recent neurobiological models of AN led to the hypothesis that early on in illness, restrictive food choices would be associated with activity in nucleus accumbens reward regions, rather than caudate regions identified among adults with AN.

Methods: Healthy adolescents (HC, n = 41) and adolescents with AN or atypical AN (atypAN, n = 76) completed a Food Choice Task during fMRI scanning.

Maladaptive Food Attitudes and Behaviors in Individuals with Celiac Disease and Their Association with Quality of Life.

Background: The only treatment for celiac disease (CeD) is strict lifelong adherence to a gluten-free diet (GFD). In some individuals the demands of a GFD may contribute to maladaptive eating attitudes and behaviors that impair quality of life (QOL). The Celiac Disease Food Attitudes and Behaviors (CD-FAB) is an easily administered and scored 11-item tool querying potentially maladaptive food attitudes and behaviors resulting from beliefs around gluten exposures and food safety.

Eating behavior in atypical anorexia nervosa.

Objective: Atypical anorexia nervosa (AN) has been increasingly identified in the community and in clinical settings. Initial studies indicate that psychological symptoms are similar or more severe among patients with atypical AN, as compared with AN. This study examined whether eating behavior differed among patients with AN (n = 98), patients with atypical AN (n = 18), and healthy controls (HC, n = 75).

Associations between mealtime anxiety and food intake in anorexia nervosa.

Objective: A salient disturbance in anorexia nervosa (AN) is the persistent restriction of food intake. Eating behavior in AN is thought to be influenced by anxiety. The current study probed associations between mealtime anxiety and food intake among individuals with AN and healthy comparison individuals (HC).

Food Folio by Columbia Center for Eating Disorders: A Freely Available Food Image Database.

Food images are useful stimuli for the study of cognitive processes as well as eating behavior. To enhance rigor and reproducibility in task-based research, it is advantageous to have stimulus sets that are publicly available and well characterized. Food Folio by Columbia Center for Eating Disorders is a publicly available set of 138 images of Western food items.

The association between leptin and weight maintenance outcome in anorexia nervosa.

Objective: Relapse after weight restoration in anorexia nervosa (AN) is a critical problem. Higher body fat percentage after weight gain has been shown to predict better weight maintenance outcome. Leptin, a fat-derived hormone, has been associated with progress during weight gain, but its association with weight maintenance is unknown.

Restrictive eating across a spectrum from healthy to unhealthy: behavioral and neural mechanisms.

Background: Restriction of food intake is a central feature of anorexia nervosa (AN) and other eating disorders, yet also occurs in the absence of psychopathology. The neural mechanisms of restrictive eating in health and disease are unclear.

Methods: This study examined behavioral and neural mechanisms associated with restrictive eating among individuals with and without eating disorders.

Differences in brain structure and function in children with the obesity-risk allele.

Objective: Noncoding alleles of the fat mass and obesity-associated () gene have been associated with obesity risk, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Risk allele carriers show alterations in brain structure and function, but previous studies have not disassociated the effects of genotype from those of body mass index (BMI).

Methods: Differences in brain structure and function were examined in children without obesity grouped by their number of copies (0,1,2) of the FTO obesity-risk single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1421085.

Habits are stronger with longer duration of illness and greater severity in anorexia nervosa.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between habit strength and clinical features of anorexia nervosa (AN). Habit strength, separate from intention, relates to the persistence of behavior, and is measured by the Self-Report Habit Index (SRHI). We hypothesized that habit strength would be greater among individuals with AN than healthy controls (HC) and that habit strength would be associated with duration and severity of illness.

The FTO Gene and Measured Food Intake in 5- to 10-Year-Old Children Without Obesity.

Objective: Genetic variation in the first intron of FTO (e.g., single-nucleotide polymorphism [SNP] rs9939609) is strongly associated with adiposity.

Fat preference and fat intake in individuals with and without anorexia nervosa.

Fat restriction is a characteristic eating behavior among individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN), and laboratory meal studies demonstrate restricted fat intake among low-weight patients. The Geiselman Food Preference Questionnaire-I (FPQ) is a validated self-report measure that yields a fat preference score (FPS). Prior research reported that patients with AN had a significantly lower FPS than did healthy control (HC) participants.

Diminished quality of life among adolescents with coeliac disease using maladaptive eating behaviours to manage a gluten-free diet: a cross-sectional, mixed-methods study.

Background: Certain approaches to managing a strict gluten-free diet (GFD) for coeliac disease (CD) may lead to impaired psychosocial well-being, a diminished quality of life (QOL) and disordered eating. The present study aimed to understand adolescents' approaches to managing a GFD and the association with QOL.

Methods: Thirty adolescents with CD (13-17 years old) following the GFD for at least 1 year completed the Celiac Dietary Adherence Test (CDAT) and QOL survey.

Relationship between three factor eating questionnaire-restraint subscale and food intake.

Objective: Dietary restraint refers to an individual's intention to restrict food intake, measured via self-report questionnaires, whereas dietary restriction refers to actual reduction in caloric intake. The aim of this research was to investigate the association between dietary restraint scales and actual caloric restriction.

Method: Data were collected from six previously published or two ongoing eating behavior studies in which participants (n = 183) completed the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) and Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and participated in a laboratory-based research lunch meal.

Rigor and reproducibility via laboratory studies of eating behavior: A focused update and conceptual review.

Objective: The eating behavior of individuals with eating disorders has been examined in laboratory settings over the last 30 years. In this focused review, we build on prior research and highlight several feeding laboratory paradigms that have successfully demonstrated quantifiable and observable behavioral disturbances, and thereby add rigor and reproducibility to the examination of disturbances of eating behavior. This review describes the measures commonly obtained via these laboratory techniques.

Impulsivity and test meal intake among women with bulimia nervosa.

Many patients with bulimia nervosa (BN) also meet criteria for a lifetime alcohol use disorder (AUD). In order to understand possible mechanisms contributing to the co-occurrence and perpetuation of these disorders, this study investigated the importance of impulsivity and test meal intake among patients with BN by comparing women with BN only (n = 18), BN and current/past AUDs (n = 13), and healthy controls (n = 12). All participants completed assessments of eating disorder symptoms, frequency of alcohol use, binge eating, and purging via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews over two sessions.

Assessment of the motivation to use artificial sweetener among individuals with an eating disorder.

Eating disorders are associated with a range of abnormalities in eating behavior. Some individuals consume large amounts of non-caloric artificial sweeteners, suggesting abnormalities in appetitive responding. The current study aimed to quantify hedonic and motivating effects of artificial sweetener in individuals with and without an eating disorder.

The effect of acute weight restoration on dietary fat preference in hospitalized patients with anorexia nervosa.

Objective: Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) restrict fat intake. The Geiselman Food Preference Questionnaire-I© (FPQ) is a validated self-report instrument that yields a fat preference score (>100 = high fat preference, <100 = low fat preference). The goal of the study was to assess the utility of the FPQ in patients with AN.

Assessment of fat taste in individuals with and without anorexia nervosa.

Objective: Avoidance of dietary fat is a highly characteristic eating behavior of individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN). To date, no study has determined whether these individuals are better able to perceive the fat content of foods than individuals without AN. The goal of this study was to compare blinded taste ratings of fat-free, low fat, and regular cream cheese in patients with AN and in normal controls (NC).

Hormonal responses and test meal intake among obese teenagers before and after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding.

Background: Relatively little is known about changes in eating behavior or hormonal responses to food after bariatric surgery in adolescents.

Objective: This study compared eating behavior and hormones among adolescents in a bariatric surgery program with those in nonoverweight control adolescents and evaluated changes before and after laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB).

Design: Fasting leptin, peptide YY (PYY), and ghrelin concentrations were obtained, and postprandial ghrelin and PYY area under the curve (AUC) were assessed after a single-item breakfast.

Can the reinforcing value of food be measured in bulimia nervosa?

Binge eating is a core clinical feature of bulimia nervosa (BN). Enhanced reinforcing value of food may play a role in this behavioral disturbance, but a systematic behavioral assessment of objective measures of the rewarding value of binge eating is lacking. The purpose of this study was to quantify the reinforcing value of food in BN patients as compared with normal controls.

Striatal dopamine in bulimia nervosa: a PET imaging study.

Objective: Bulimia nervosa (BN) has been characterized as similar to an addiction, though the empirical support for this characterization is limited. This study utilized PET imaging to determine whether abnormalities in brain dopamine (DA) similar to those described in substance use disorders occur in BN.

Method: PET imaging with [(11) C]raclopride, pre/post methylphenidate administration, to assess dopamine type 2 (D(2)) receptor binding (BP(ND)) and striatal DA release (ΔBP(ND)).

Accuracy of self-reported energy intake in weight-restored patients with anorexia nervosa compared with obese and normal weight individuals.

Objective: To compare self-reported and measured energy intake in weight-restored patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), weight-stable obese individuals (OB), and normal weight controls (NC).

Method: Forty participants (18 AN, 10 OB, and 12 NC) in a laboratory meal study simultaneously completed a prospective food record.

Results: AN patients significantly (p = .

A placebo-controlled pilot study of adjunctive olanzapine for adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore whether the addition of olanzapine versus placebo increases weight gain and improves psychological symptoms in adolescents with anorexia nervosa-restricting type who are participating in a comprehensive eating disorders treatment program.

Methods: Twenty underweight females participated in this 10-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of olanzapine. The primary efficacy measure was change in percentage of median body weight measured at baseline and weeks 5 and 10.

Fear of food as a treatment target: exposure and response prevention for anorexia nervosa in an open series.

Objective: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe mental illness with high rates of relapse and rehospitalization. New treatment approaches are needed. We aimed to evaluate the potential utility of addressing eating-related fear in the treatment of AN using psychotherapy techniques known to be effective in the treatment of anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder, namely exposure therapy and response prevention.

Food choice and diet variety in weight-restored patients with anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa is a serious psychiatric illness associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Weight-restored females with anorexia nervosa with limited diet variety, assessed by a diet variety score, have been reported to have poor outcomes. Using the same patient cohort, the objective of the current study was to provide a detailed description of the types of foods from which patients restrict variety in their diets.