How Anorexia Impacts the Brain
It’s natural to associate eating disorders — specifically anorexia and restrictive eating — with physical changes, but did you know they impact the brain as well?
In today’s blog post, let’s consider three ways that anorexia can impair brain function.
1. It decreases serotonin.
Serotonin is the happy neurotransmitter. “When someone is under-eating, it decreases the body’s availability of carbohydrates and proteins,” explains nutritionist Elaina Efird, RDN, CD, CEDRD, CSSD in a video on our YouTube channel. “You need both of these things to make serotonin.” Low serotonin, then, leads to an increase in anxiety, depression, obsessive thoughts, and gastroparesis, or slow gut movement. Gastroparesis may lead to constipation and bloating — and yes, it can be from under-eating, not just over-eating like so many people assume!
2. It changes the body’s reward pathways.
On a similar note, research shows that someone with anorexia experiences different reward signals in their brain. Typically, you eat something and feel happy that you nourished your body and experienced those tastes. For an individual with anorexia, that reward pathway doesn’t exist. With that boost of serotonin missing, it’s easier for them to restrict their intake.
3. It decreases grey matter in the brain.
Grey matter is an essential tissue in the brain and spinal cord that plays an important role in mental functions, memory, emotions, and movement. People currently suffering from anorexia have the lowest amount of grey matter, while people who never experience an eating disorder have the highest amount. People in eating disorder recovery tend to fall somewhere in the middle. There is positive news here! “By maintaining a better weight for your body and consuming enough calories, you can restore that grey matter,” Elaina says.
So what does the impact of anorexia on the brain mean for eating disorder sufferers and their loved ones?
Oftentimes, people share that, when a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, they act like a totally different person. They may be moody, rigid, withdrawn, or even hostile. Something that never bothered them before may totally set them off. Parents of adolescents even report feeling like their daughter or son isn’t the same child anymore. That’s because of those changes happening in the brain.
This change in brain function is important to understand when you’re trying to help your loved one. It’s as if another part of an individual comes to life. “I’ve had people with eating disorders explain to me that they almost feel like they get possessed by this voice,” Elaina shares. There’s this constant whispering in their head that says, “You shouldn't eat this food. You’re too fat. This food is bad.” So when your loved one becomes withdrawn or angry, remember that their eating disorder brain is taking over.
Ultimately, understanding how much an eating disorder impacts the brain will help you help your loved ones through their diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.
Fortunately, it is possible to rebuild the more logical side of the brain — the one that recognizes their disordered behaviors and knows that they need to change. By nourishing their brain and body in a better way, the more logical side of the brain will become stronger and stronger. In the same way, under-nourishing their brain and body will make their eating disorder brain grow louder and louder. Elaina tells her clients not to cater to the eating disorder brain. Instead, whenever something is said that is clearly driven by their eating disorder, acknowledge and address it right then.
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