Anorexia could be caused by bacteria that confuse the immune system, leading to attacking the brain and triggering feelings or feelings of personal disgust. This new theory relates the eating disorder to a physical infection, unlike the traditional opinion that blames psychological, social and even environmental factors.
Similar causes for different diseases
Researchers from Lancaster University and the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust have concluded that Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) have similar pathologies. Researchers point to the fact that women are much more susceptible to autoimmune diseases , such as pernicious anemia, where the immune system itself from the body starts attacking healthy cells . Similarly, women are 10 times more likely to suffer from anorexia , IBS, and CFS, suggesting that the cause may be similar.
Bacteria and Anorexia
Dr. Quenton Wessels , from Lancaster University, said that diseases begin when the body encounters certain bacteria and switches off an immune response, which accidentally begins to attack healthy parts of the body. The immune system responds to something that is foreign by making an antibody that attacks something else.
When it generates autoantibodies, they act on the limbic system of the brain, which could stimulate external emotions, including disgust and fear . It has a direct relationship on the suffering of Anorexia , since these emotions are linked in the minds of adolescents on culturally determined ideas about what it is and what it is not, the ideal body shape and its dimensions; It is then a small step for the disgust and fear of food and obesity, which currently demonizes the fashion industry.
Other conditions related to bacterial infections
Around 750,000 people in Britain suffer from an eating disorder and around 75,000 suffer from anorexia. Some 7 million people in Britain suffer from irritable bowel syndrome, while 250,000 have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome or ME.
Previous research has suggested that irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome may have a bacterial origin , the onset of IBS commonly follows an episode of infectious diarrhea, while chronic fatigue syndrome may be caused by Infectious mononucleosis and viral hepatitis.
Studies suggest that anorexia is more prevalent in individual girls’ schools and may not just be socially infectious, but physically infectious.
Restoring the good bacteria in the intestine can be a way to achieve an improvement in these conditions, achieving a balance in the intestinal flora.