Researchers of the Maudsley clinic in London believe that anorexia is not caused by psychological issues, but maybe a genetic one.
There are also some relations to autism, for example 15-20 % of the anorexic patients are part of the autistic spectrum
It's possible, that the same genetic predisposition for autism and anorexia may be expressed differently depending on gender.
About 15 times as many boys are given a diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome as are girls, and nearly 10 times as many girls develop anorexia as boys. It's easy to see how an outsized sense of perfectionism in a female might lead to an unhealthy obsession with thinness — given society's preoccupation with physical appearance — while a male might end up obsessing about cars or trains, which is typical in autistic boys. "The reason [Asperger's] is usually diagnosed less often in females may be because it takes a different form — anorexia may be just one of the forms," says Baron-Cohen, adding that there are likely multiple routes leading to anorexia and that autistic features may not factor in all of them.
Dr. Campbell-McBride: "It's all in the gut"
Dr. Campbell-McBride also sees a relation between autism and anorexia, and also mercury from amalgam fillings. The main cause in her eyes is the health of the gut. A disturbed gut flora is caused by anitbiotics, bad diets with lots of junk food and sugar, stress, the birth control pill etc.
Dr. Campbell-McBride points to a study showing that rats treated with antibiotics succumb to mercury poisoning while those with untreated gut flora do not. She believes the same is true of humans and that, while the government warns against eating fish because of mercury and PCB contamination, a healthy gut should be able to tolerate the exposure and get the health benefits of eating fish.
So if you have a bad gut flora (which could also be caused by mercury itself) you have also more difficulties excreting heavy metals. A vicious cycle.
And also anorexia can be caused by a disbalance in the gut, she says:
Even eating disorders, which are typically treated as psychiatric or psychological conditions, says Dr. Campbell-McBride, can start with nutritional deficiencies very often arising from vegetarianism in young girls. She believes that as girls progress from vegetarianism to veganism, they cut more and more healthy fats out of their diets, especially vitamins A and D, and are left with a compromised immune system.
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My take on it
I think toxins like mercury already change things in the unborn to the worse (which later could be called genetic defects). Having already a burden of heavy metals as a newborn, the children develop yeast and gut problems at an early age. Which will be accelerated by more toxins through the breast milk or not long enough being breastfed but being fed highly processed foods like milk formulas etc. This will be worsened by vaccinations which bring even more toxins and heavy metals into the small child.
Mercury as a neurotoxin can cause all sorts of neurological issues. So I would not wonder if it can also cause anorexia caused by a wrong self-image and depressions. Ever seen autistic children? They look depressed, often sad. Even when there is no psychological reason for being so. Depression is mostly a disbalance in the brain's chemicals, nothing psychological. Ever wondered why some people are more resiliant than others? Maybe less toxins in the body and brain.
Combined with a disbalanced gut flora which causes digestive issues, the anorexic person might feel indeed much better when not eating. Adrenaline rises, giving you a high feeling.
The gut is the body's brain in a way. Lots of nerves are directly related to our brain. Our feelings are in the gut.
So for me it is no wonder at all if autism and anorexia are related, but it's not that one causes the other, it is more that both have the same cause.
By the way, when it comes to diet and autism, a lot of parents have gotten wonderful improvements on their autistic children when introducing a gluten-free casein-free diet. Probably because most autistic children have a compromised gut flora and gluten and casein are the most problematic substances when you have a leaky gut.
Then again, I am not denying that anorexia can be caused by psychological factors. If you are in the autism spectrum you feel awkward, sometimes anxious or depressed. Sometimes these feelings can lead to eating disorder too, of course.
