Examines the impact of the environment on the activation of
personality traits displayed in humans, while offering the views of
Walter Kaye and Wade Berrettini, who are conducting studies on genes that
predispose some persons to anorexia and bulimia. Occurence of anorexia
and bulimia during the 17th, 16th and 19th centuries; Role of
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in detecting the cause of eating disorders in
individuals.
By
PT Staff, published on July 01, 1998
HEALTH
On any list of the dark side of modern culture, anorexia and
bulimia would rank high. But a radical view holds that while binging,
purging, and starving behaviors may be new, the groundwork for them is as
old as mankind itself.
Current environmental triggers have activated hard-wired
personality traits, contend Waiter Kaye, M.D., and Wade Berrettini, M.D.,
Ph.D., who are leading a search for the genes that predispose some people
to anorexia and bulimia.
Accounts from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries show that anorexia
is not just a modern disease, says Berrettini, professor of psychiatry at
the University of Pennsylvania. Still, the risk of eating disorders has
doubled in American women born after 1960. Since genes don't evolve that
quickly, social factors must weigh in.
Indeed, Kaye and Berrettini believe that cultural messages about
weight interact with inherited characteristics to produce anorexia or
bulimia. "Sufferers tend to have certain vulnerabilities," says Kaye,
professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. "They are
obsessed with perfection."
Once, this predisposition may have remained dormant. "There may be
times in history where people had genes for these traits and didn't
develop a disorder, due to a low-stress environment," says Kaye.
These genes might also have been expressed in other ritualistic
behaviors. But our culture's emphasis on thinness has given women an all
too ideal outlet for perfectionist drives.
Kaye and Berrettini are collecting the DNA of women whose families
have two or more relatives with eating disorders. Berrettini expects to
identify at least one of the genes by the year's end. Their research may
allow them to pinpoint those at risk and may lead to better
treatments.--C.C.
Tags:
american women,
anorexia,
anorexia and bulimia,
bulimia,
eating disorders,
gene,
groundwork,
mankind,
modern culture,
personality traits,
predisposition,
radical view,
ritualistic behaviors,
social factors,
stress environment,
university of pennsylvania,
university of pittsburgh,
vulnerabilities,
wade berrettini,
waiter
