Love Hormone ‘Could Treat Anorexia’
British and Korean scientists say oxytocin can help reduce anorexic sufferers’ fixation on high calorie foods and body shape.
Anorexia nervosa is a psychological condition where people stop eating food and exercise excessively to lower their body weight. It can lead to social difficulties, anxiety and death from malnutrition, medical complications or suicide.
About one in 100 adolescent girls develop anorexia nervosa. It has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder.
“Patients with anorexia have a range of social difficulties which often start in the early teenage years, before the onset of the illness,” said senior author Professor Janet Treasure from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry.