Bulimics Suffer From Decreased Impulse Control

A new study has found that women with bulimia are more impulsive than their peers, and the hardwiring of their brains may be to blame.

Scientists monitored the brains of 40 women during the performance of the Simon Spatial Incompatibility task. They then compared the brain scans of 20 women with bulimia to the scans of 20 healthy women, and found that women with bulimia show less activity in their frontostriatal circuits when making a mistake than the control group. In their report, the authors wrote: “We speculate that this inability to engage frontostriatal systems also contributes to their inability to regulate binge-type eating and other impulsive behaviors.” Despite these findings, I somehow doubt that this German anti-bulimia PSA placed on the inside of toilets in a girls dorm will prove at all effective at regulating the impulses of ED sufferers. [Science Daily & Animal NY]