Metabolism and Body composition in adolescent eating disorders
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Metabolic and body composition variation in adolescent eating disorders
IRAS ID
243646
Contact name
Laura Watson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
CPFT
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric disorder where individuals restrict their food intake to lose weight, experience distorted bodily perception and express an intense fear of weight gain. There are typically two subtypes eating-related behaviours in AN; restricting-type anorexics (R-AN) who lose weight purely by dieting and exercise. The second is binge-eating/purging-type anorexics (BP-AN) who also restrict their food intake and exercise to lose weight but also engage in binge eating and/or purging.
There are differences in body composition and basal metabolic rate between subtypes of AN and studies have shown that adult female patients with AN present a disproportionate increase of trunk fat after weight gain, resulting in central adiposity, which can negatively impact their treatment psychologically and physically.
There is substantial literature outlining guidelines for the care of patients during the refeeding stage (first seven days) of treatment where they are at greatest risk of refeeding syndrome, however after this stage the literature becomes sparse and less informative about the rationale underlying the energy content of meal plans, leaving institutions to devise weight restoration plans without scientific backing.
Body composition will be assessed by DXA for regional (arms, legs, trunk) and whole body fat, and MRI for central fat and hepatic steatosis. Metabolism, energy intake and expenditure, will be assessed by indirect calorimetry for expenditure, OGTT for biochemical metabolism and energy intake by food diary collected by specialised dietitians. These measurements will be repeated at weight increments throughout treatment and offered at 6 months and 12 months after discharge.
This leads us to describe this pilot study to describe the metabolic and body composition variations in adolescent eating disorders with the future aim to develop an individualised approach for the assessment of energy intake, expenditure and body composition for the effective management of weight restoration.REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EE/0264
Date of REC Opinion
27 Nov 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion