A recent study found that the brains of girls and boys with binge eating disorders differ significantly. That is a crucial discovery, according to experts, because eating disorders affect people of all genders equally yet are mostly treated for girls. Experts claim that even when they are not physically hungry, people with eating disorders often feel that they have no control over what they eat. They often sit and eat alone because they feel bad about how much they eat. People with binge eating disorders may feel disgusted or guilty after an episode because they may not be able to purge, exercise or fast because of the eating disorder.
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| Boys' and girls' brains exhibit various signs of binge eating disorder. |
According to Stuart Murray, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, "Males have been excluded from studies on eating disorders for decades."
He pointed out that the omission was made because people thought eating problems in men weren't frequent a school press release, Murray stated.
As many men and boys suffer from eating problems as do women and girls. Researchers say there is growing evidence that eating disorders are brain illnesses rather than the product of peer pressure or a lack of willpower.
Data from a study of teenage brain development with more than 11,800 individuals were used by this research team. Researchers found a diagnosis of binge eating disorder in thirty-eight boys and thirty-three girls. Boys make up 57% of all children with binge eating disorders. About 43% of people with the disease are adult males.
According to the study, there are considerable variations in the brains of boys and girls.
The density of grey matter in the brains was examined by scientists using a neuroimaging method of the study's 9 and 10-year-old subjects. They contrasted their findings with a control group of seventy-four children who were similar to the children in the study in terms of age, developmental maturity, and body mass index (BMI), a measurement of body fat based on height and weight.
Increased grey matter density was seen in various regions of the brain associated with impulse control and binge eating symptoms in girls with binge eating disorders.
The grey matter density in these regions was not increased in the binge-eating disorder-affected males.
According to the researchers, this shows that a critical brain maturation process called synaptic pruning may be either changed or delayed in these females.
Any neurobiological theory of binge eating disorder needs to be gender-specific, according to this study, Murray said.
The study expands on past research that claimed binge eating disorder was a brain-wiring issue from an early age.
Only female volunteers have been used in the research thus far, despite the proximity of innovative therapies like direct current stimulation targeted at the brain.
Any therapies that target the brain must be studied on both sexes, Murray said, due to the variations in brain anatomy between boys and girls with binge eating disorders. If not, we would be focusing on areas of the male brain that are not necessarily dysfunctional.
Researchers want to see if the structural differences between male and female brains result in different functional differences.
They view this research as a crucial starting point in the study of the neuroscience of binge eating disorders. They also stated that future efforts to comprehend these challenges must include men.
