Modified nutritional counselling to increase motivation to treatment in anorexia nervosa

Current Discoveries and Future Implications of Eating Disorders

Eating disorders (EDs) are characterized by severe disturbances in eating behaviors and can sometimes be fatal. Eating disorders are also associated with distressing thoughts and emotions. They can be severe conditions affecting physical, psychological, and social functions. Preoccupation with food, body weight, and shape may also play an important role in the regulation of eating disorders. Common eating disorders have three major types: anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED). In some cases, EDs can have serious consequences for an individual's physical and mental health. These disorders often develop during adolescence or early adulthood and affect both males and females, although they are more commonly diagnosed in young adult females. Treatment for EDs typically involves a combination of therapy, nutrition counseling, and medical care. In this narrative review, the authors summarized what is known of EDs and discussed the future directions that may be worth exploring in this emerging area.

Eating Disorder Nutrition Counseling: Strategies and Education Needs of English-Speaking Dietitians in Canada

The purpose of this study was to profile nutrition counseling strategies for eating disorders that English-speaking Canadian registered dietitians (RDs) use and to explore their educational needs in this area. A cross-sectional survey consisting of open- and closed-ended questions on nutrition counseling strategies was developed and administered via mail. Types of strategies included assessment, rapport-building, educational, and behavior-change strategies. Sixty-five of the 116 eligible RDs who were members of the Dietitians of Canada Eating Disorder Network responded to the survey. Descriptive statistics, chi(2), and Spearman correlation statistics were used. P values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Canadian RDs used strategies that were familiar and strategies they considered useful. Content-oriented or "doing" strategies were used more often than strategies that involved some process-oriented or "thinking" strategies. Reading and intuition were the most frequently reported learning routes. Seventy-one percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the educational opportunities available to RDs in this area in Canada. In Canada, both generalist RDs and specialist eating disorders RDs work with clients with eating disorders. In the absence of a formal nutrition counseling education program, there seems to be a reliance on informal learning routes such as reading or intuition, which may be suboptimal. To optimize eating disorders nutrition practice in Canada, formal coordinated programming that accounts for the educational needs of specialist RDs as well as generalist RDs is needed.

Dopamine receptor D1 gene -48A/G polymorphism is associated with bipolar illness but not with schizophrenia in a Polish population

Dysregulation of dopaminergic neurotransmission has been implicated in the etiology of major psychoses. The dopamine D(1) receptor (DRD1) plays a role in some brain functions and mechanisms of psychotropic drugs. Therefore, the DRD1 gene makes a good candidate gene for molecular genetic studies in schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder. In the present study, the -48A/G polymorphism of the DRD1 gene was estimated in patients with schizophrenia (n=407) or bipolar affective disorder (n=380), and in healthy controls (n=399). No association was found between the polymorphism studied and schizophrenia, either in the whole group of patients or in subgroups divided by gender, age at onset or predominance of positive or negative symptoms. A statistical trend was obtained for an association between this polymorphism and bipolar affective disorder (p=0.059 for genotypes, p=0.073 for alleles). The G/G genotype and G allele were significantly more frequent in patients with bipolar disorder, type II (p=0.016 for genotypes, p=0.008 for alleles), especially in the women subgroup (p=0.054 for genotypes, p=0.024 for alleles). An association between the G/G genotype and bipolar affective disorder with disease onset after 18 years of age was also found (p=0.022). These data suggest that the -48A/G polymorphism of the DRD1 gene may be involved in the etiology of bipolar disorder in a Polish population.