Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have identified genetic changes that may heighten the risk of developing the eating disorder anorexia, reports MSNBC.
Studies done on twins have led researchers to believe that anorexia is highly heritable, and that genes could account for more than half of a person's susceptibility to the condition. However, few genes have been implicated as risk factors, the genetic underpinnings of anorexia have remained, for the most part, unknown.To solve the mystery, (CHOP Center for Applied Genomics Director Dr. Hakon) Hakonarson and his colleagues scanned the genomes of 1,003 people with anorexia (whose average age was 27), and compared them with the genomes of 3,733 children (whose average age was 13) who did not have anorexia. While it's possible that some of the children might later develop anorexia, the number would be so small that it would be unlikely to impact the analysis, Hakonarson said.The researchers found a few spots along the genome where the two groups differed. These so-called single-nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs could play a role in the genetic underpinnings of the disease. Original source: MSNBC
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