快猫短视频

ANOREXIC women are most likely to have been born in the spring or early
summer, reports a researcher in Scotland. The finding raises the possibility
that a common winter infection, such as flu, may predispose an unborn baby to
the condition.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not the whole answer,鈥� says John Eagles of the Royal Cornhill Hospital
in Aberdeen. But it could be an unrecognised cause of anorexia nervosa, which
affects around 1 per cent of girls in the US.

Anorexic girls are preoccupied with dieting and being thin, often seeing
themselves as fat despite being severely underweight. Their excessive weight
loss can cause shrunken organs, loss of bone mineral and an irregular heartbeat.
Around 10 per cent of patients die of the disease, according to the American
Anorexia Bulimia Association.

Anorexia is generally thought to be a psychological disorder triggered by a
stressful family environment or a culture obsessed with slenderness. But new
evidence points to a biological origin. Eagles鈥檚 team studied the case notes of
446 Scottish women who had been diagnosed with anorexia or who had suffered the
symptoms of the disorder between 1965 and 1997. They were compared with a group
of 5766 controls born in the same region of Scotland in the years 1951, 1961,
1971 and 1981.

More women born in the first six months of the year developed anorexia than
those born in the last six. Between March and June there were 13 per cent more
anorexics born than average, and 30 per cent more in June itself. The findings
are broadly in line with two earlier studies that suggested a link between
eating disorders and season of birth.

Eagles says these findings point to a seasonally fluctuating cause of
anorexia, such as winter illnesses during pregnancy. And there is a
precedent鈥攕chizophrenics are more likely to be born in the first four
months of the year. Several studies have linked schizophrenia with influenza or
polio viruses in the patients鈥� mothers during the second trimester of
pregnancy鈥攖he period when the brain of the fetus is most sensitive
(快猫短视频, 21 July, p 38).

鈥淲e don鈥檛 know where eating disorders come from,鈥� says Daniel le Grange of
the University of Chicago. Exploring the biological roots of anorexia is
important, he says. But others are less convinced. Blake Woodside at the
University of Toronto says that anorexia is caused by a combination of genes,
social environment and a person鈥檚 temperament. The seasonal link is 鈥渘ot
particularly powerful鈥� and 鈥減robably meaningless鈥�, he says.

However, scans have revealed structural abnormalities in the brains of many
anorexic women. And genes linked to the disease are also being uncovered
(快猫短视频, 14 April, p 25).