ANGI Update

Ever since I first read about the ANGI study and participated by donating blood, I have been very interested in how it is all going. I was so happy to read how the study is going and want to encourage anyone who is able to participate to do so. Afterall, finding out whether certain genes are associated with anorexia could be the key to finding out how to prevent and treat this awful illness that takes far to many lives.  

To read more about the ANGI study you can read my previous posts on it HERE

ANGI: A LOOK AT OUR FINAL YEAR OF RECRUITMENT

BY: Christopher Hilliard

DATE: September 7, 2015

The Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative has entered its final year of recruitment. On behalf of those who work day-in and day-out on the study, I can say with confidence, it has all been a wild ride.

In the beginning, as we were just getting our feet wet, we began recruitment slowly. But as people began to hear about “ANGI”, our inbox began to fill with emails and the phones rang more frequently. After just a few months, we received a huge boost thanks to June Alexander – one of our colleagues in Australia who shared our study on her blog – and the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), who shared our study in their newsletter. In the months that followed, we rode a wave of recruitment that took us well beyond our initial recruitment goals. In fact, we went so far beyond our initial goals that we had to set new ones!

To enable us to meet these new goals, we brought in new people, posted flyers all over UNC’s campus and the surrounding area, advertised in magazines and websites, wrote blog posts, attended conferences, distributed materials to care providers all over the country, and hired a mobile phlebotomy company to help participants provide a blood sample. When we began recruitment, we were only able to recruit women, but we promised to include men. Since then, we have kept that promise, and, at this point, we have had recruited men and women from all 50 of the United States of America. That’s right, all of them! The most common sentiment we hear from people is how enthusiastic they are to contribute to research on this devastating illness. People want to help in any way they can to put an end to the suffering anorexia nervosa causes.

This wouldn’t be much of an update without numbers, so here’s the latest breakdown:

Our teams in Australia and Sweden have recruited 1667 and 3006 individuals with a history of anorexia, respectively! In the United States, 946 individuals with a history of anorexia nervosa and 404 individuals without a history of an eating disorder have participated in ANGI.

Looking ahead, our goal for the United States is to have 1500 individuals with a history of anorexia and 1500 individuals without a history of an eating disorder participate in ANGI by July 2016. We know more people are out there, but we need your help! If you or someone you know is interested in participating in ANGI, please contact us!

If you are in the United States, please visit our website at www.unceatingdisorders.org/angi, call us toll free at 1-855-746-2547, or email us atangi@unc.edu.

If you are in Australia, visit https://angi.qimr.edu.au, free call 1-800-257-179, or email angi@qimrberghofer.edu.au

Finally, we would like to send a big THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to the study already. Without each of you, this study would not have been possible.

Source: http://uncexchanges.org/2015/09/07/angi-a-look-at-our-final-year-of-recruitment/

An interesting read

August 27, 2015

For 15 years I worked as a research scientist examining the neurobiologic and genetic underpinnings of eating disorders. The number one question I heard (and still hear) is:

What causes eating disorders? Is it nature or nuture?

Some say they believe eating disorders are the result of over-controlling mothers and stubborn children. Others believe eating disorders develop because of difficult relationships, abuse, or trauma. And, still others have stated that eating disorders run in families and are genetic. The truth is, although controlling mothers and stubborn children DO NOT cause eating disorders, there are many variables, such as biology, environment, and experience that can contribute to their development.

Eating disorders are complicated illnesses that develop over a period of time. The interaction of many variables during this time ultimately determines whether or not an eating disorder emerges. As people go through life, genes influence the biology of their bodies and brains, help shape their personalities, affect how they respond to stress, and impact the sports or activities they choose and the friends they make. At the same time, their environment and experiences, such as stress, trauma or abuse, their thoughts and feelings, and how and what they eat can not only change the biology of their bodies and brains, but can also alter the way their genes are expressed and function.

So the answer to the question is:

Nature AND nurture cause eating disorders.

Individuals may have a genetic predisposition to develop an eating disorder, but if their experiences and environment promote health and wellness and do not activate biologic triggers to initiate disordered eating behavior, they may never develop an eating disorder. Alternatively, individuals with no genetic predisposition for eating disorders who are exposed to environmental stimuli that trigger a biologic and emotional response, such as severe stress, may experience changes in body and brain chemistry that influence eating behavior, leading to disordered eating. Disordered eating can further change the individual’s biology, inducing changes in body and brain chemistry that can become conditioned to particular environments, such as specific places or specific emotional states. This interplay among biologic and environmental variables becomes a self-perpetuating cycle of disordered eating resulting in eating disorder illnesses.

It is important to note that there is not one single variable that causes eating disorders. Just as many complex interactions occur to contribute to the development of a disorder, so too must many complex interactions occur to recover from an eating disorder illness. Treatment must address the biologic and environmental contributors to the disorder. Managing biology through proper nourishment, establishing effective coping and communication skills, and identifying and addressing environmental triggers, together, can promote recovery.

Wendy Mathes, MS, PhD, LPCA, NCC

Outreach Education Coordinator, Veritas Collaborative

Weigh in wednesday and ANGI update

I have been a bit nervous leading up to today as it was my first weigh in since last Wednesday when I significantly increased my calorie intake. I have been nervous about weighing in today for a couple of reasons. Firstly, while I am determined to recover and want it more than anything else, I am still struggling with the idea  of gaining weight sometimes. Well I suppose it is my anorexia that is uncomfortable about it and I have been worried that I had gained a lot of weight and that I would freak out when I saw it. As silly as it sounds, I have also felt worried because I was scared I may have maintained my weight and not gained anything at all. If this was the case I truly would feel as though I had let myself as well as the people who read my blog down. So I have had really mixed feelings over the last week. Part of me wanted to gain weight as I know that it is essential for my recovery and the anorexic part of me didn't want me to gain weight.

I held my breath this morning as I stepped on the scales and was really happy when I saw that I had...... GAINED HALF A KILO. Not only was I over the moon that I had gained weight, I was also excited because for the first time in as long as I can remember, I was actually happy about gaining weight. This goes to show just how much my mind set really has changed in the past little while. I know that as my weight increases more and more, gaining weight will become much more difficult for me to deal with but all I can do is take each day as it comes. 

Since seeing I had gained weight this morning, I expected my anorexic thoughts to be really strong throughout the day and I expected to feel as though I should compensate in some way by restricting or exercising but I can honestly say that this has not been the case at all. I think that the healthy rational part of me was just so thrilled that I had gained weight and that I haven't let anybody down that not even my anorexia could make me feel bad about myself. This was one achievement that I was not going to let my anorexia stop me from feeling happy about. I honestly think that all the extra food I am eating is what is making the non-anorexic part of me so strong. While I haven't always believed it in the past, I really do think it is true what they say, that food is medicine for someone suffering from anorexia. Since I have gained half a kilo this week, I am not increasing my calories this week but if I find that my weight does not continue to increase at a similar rate over the next week, I will have to increase my intake again next wednesday.

I went to my GP today and got blood drawn for the ANGI study I am particpiating in. ANGI stands for Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative and is a study that I am really glad to be a part of. For anyone who hasn't heard of ANGI, you can read an earlier post I wrote about it here. You may even find that the country you live in is taking part in this study too and you may be able to participate as well if you have Anorexia. As I said in the last post I wrote about it, I am really passionate about the relationship between genetics and Anorexia as various family members of mine have suffered from it. While most studies that have been done in the past have investigated how environemntal factors influence wether or not someone develops anorexia, I honestly do believe that there are genetic factors that play a role in the development of the disease in individuals. Out of curiosity, do any of the people out there reading this with anorexia have loved ones that have also suffered from the same illness?