BACKGROUND: In anorexia nervosa (AN), taste and smell are believed to be anhedonic, hunger and pain are muted, and body-image distortion obscures wasting, which together facilitate self-starvation. However, the emphasis on these deficits may be biased because other sensory systems have been sparsely investigated. OBJECTIVES: Objectives of the study were to clarify whether these dysfunctions are specific or part of a pattern of sensory-perceptual deficits in AN patients and to test the gustatory senses dissociated from ingestion to clarify whether any deficit is sensory or affective. DESIGN: In 15 adolescent, first-episode, hospitalized, restrictive AN patients and 15 matched healthy controls who responded to gustatory stimuli (intensity and hedonics of 5 basic tastes and tastes and odors of foods and nonfoods), size estimation (manual and oral judgment of size and shape, kinesthesia, and body size and esthetics), cold pain, and auditory and visual processing were compared. RESULTS: AN patients did not differ on most tests, were better at odor recognition, were less successful in central auditory processing and oral assessment of size and shape, and may have been more sensitive to cold. Body-image dissatisfaction in AN patients was not related to dysfunctional size estimation. CONCLUSIONS: There is no systematic sensory-perceptual deficit in AN patients, and specifically, not in gustatory function. The few differences shown might be due to fear of food-related stimuli or comorbidity.
BACKGROUND: In anorexia nervosa (AN), taste and smell are believed to be anhedonic, hunger and pain are muted, and body-image distortion obscures wasting, which together facilitate self-starvation. However, the emphasis on these deficits may be biased because other sensory systems have been sparsely investigated. OBJECTIVES: Objectives of the study were to clarify whether these dysfunctions are specific or part of a pattern of sensory-perceptual deficits in AN patients and to test the gustatory senses dissociated from ingestion to clarify whether any deficit is sensory or affective. DESIGN: In 15 adolescent, first-episode, hospitalized, restrictive AN patients and 15 matched healthy controls who responded to gustatory stimuli (intensity and hedonics of 5 basic tastes and tastes and odors of foods and nonfoods), size estimation (manual and oral judgment of size and shape, kinesthesia, and body size and esthetics), cold pain, and auditory and visual processing were compared. RESULTS: AN patients did not differ on most tests, were better at odor recognition, were less successful in central auditory processing and oral assessment of size and shape, and may have been more sensitive to cold. Body-image dissatisfaction in AN patients was not related to dysfunctional size estimation. CONCLUSIONS: There is no systematic sensory-perceptual deficit in AN patients, and specifically, not in gustatory function. The few differences shown might be due to fear of food-related stimuli or comorbidity.
Authors: Joe J Simon; Marion A Stopyra; Esther Mönning; Sebastian Sailer; Nora Lavandier; Lars P Kihm; Martin Bendszus; Hubert Preissl; Wolfgang Herzog; Hans-Christoph Friederich Journal: J Clin Invest Date: 2020-08-03 Impact factor: 14.808
Authors: Fernando Fernández-Aranda; Zaida Agüera; Jose C Fernández-García; Lourdes Garrido-Sanchez; Juan Alcaide-Torres; Francisco J Tinahones; Cristina Giner-Bartolomé; Rosa M Baños; Cristina Botella; Ausias Cebolla; Rafael de la Torre; Jose M Fernández-Real; Francisco J Ortega; Gema Frühbeck; Javier Gómez-Ambrosi; Roser Granero; Mohamed A Islam; Susana Jiménez-Murcia; Salomé Tárrega; José M Menchón; Ana B Fagundo; Carolina Sancho; Xavier Estivill; Janet Treasure; Felipe F Casanueva Journal: Endocrine Date: 2015-07-22 Impact factor: 3.633
Authors: Yunjung Kim; Sara E Trace; James J Crowley; Kimberly A Brownley; Robert M Hamer; David S Pisetsky; Patrick F Sullivan; Cynthia M Bulik Journal: Psychiatry Res Date: 2013-06-15 Impact factor: 3.222
Authors: Evelyn M Leland; Deborah X Xie; Vidyulata Kamath; Stella M Seal; Sandra Y Lin; Nicholas R Rowan Journal: Eat Weight Disord Date: 2021-04-19 Impact factor: 4.652
Authors: Mohammed A Islam; Ana B Fagundo; Jon Arcelus; Zaida Agüera; Susana Jiménez-Murcia; José M Fernández-Real; Francisco J Tinahones; Rafael de la Torre; Cristina Botella; Gema Frühbeck; Felipe F Casanueva; José M Menchón; Fernando Fernandez-Aranda Journal: Front Psychol Date: 2015-09-30