Body Fat Pattern Abnormal in Recovered Anorexics

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women suffering from anorexia but who successfully normalize their weight tend to deposit the added pounds around the abdomen, at least in the short term, a study shows.

Dr. Laurel Mayer from Columbia University in New York who led the study told Reuters Health that "the mechanism underlying this maldistribution of fat, the psychological effects of this truncally focused fat, and whether it is a temporary or permanent phenomenon are as yet unknown."

Mayer and her colleagues used a variety of measures to assess the distribution of body fat before and immediately after weight recovery in 29 women with anorexia.

"The important observations from the study are that when patients with anorexia nervosa normalize their weight, their body composition improves on all measures. That is, contrary to their fears, they don't gain only fat, but they gain fat-free mass (i.e., muscle, water) as well," Mayer commented.

However, there is "disproportionate central adipose tissue deposition with weight recovery," she and her associates report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The disproportionate amount of abdominal fat might be an initial effect of weight gain that "redistributes with long-term maintenance of normal weight," the team suggests, in which case "supportive therapy might suffice to help the patient tolerate the body distortions until redistribution."

On the other hands, if the changes are more permanent, "a more targeted, cognitive approach might be necessary to promote self-acceptance," they note.

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2005.