Search is on for anorexia gene:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Researchers in the US are analysing blood samples from 200 families in a bid to discover which genes make people susceptible to the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia. They have already discovered that identical twin sisters are much more likely to suffer anorexia than non-identical twin sisters and that the immediate family of women with the condition are ten times more likely to have anorexia than the general population. The researchers, at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh, hope the discovery of a susceptibility gene may lead to better treatments for the condition.