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Microbiome

The gut microbiome in anorexia nervosa

Nature Microbiology volume 8, pages 760–761 (2023)Cite this article

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Dysbiosis of the gut microbiome confers alterations in appetitive and metabolic regulation of body weight in anorexia nervosa in humans and mice.

Malnutrition and starvation are hallmark features of this eating disorder. The starvation state of AN includes gastrointestinal complaints such as excessive bloating, delayed gastric emptying, nausea, stomach pain and gastroparesis4. These symptoms present enormous obstacles to refeeding of patients, who often need to consume more than 4,000 kilocalories per day (usually over the course of months) during treatment to restore a healthy metabolic state. The presence of substantial gut dysbiosis could help to explain both the inefficiency of refeeding, as well as greater levels of distress that result from the high energy density and volume of refeeding regimens.

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Fig. 1: Altered gut microbiotas impact systems of appetitive and metabolic control in AN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Tom Hildebrandt & Deena Peyser

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  1. Tom Hildebrandt
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  2. Deena Peyser
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Correspondence to Tom Hildebrandt.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Hildebrandt, T., Peyser, D. The gut microbiome in anorexia nervosa. Nat Microbiol 8, 760–761 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01372-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01372-4

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