and tonight's health watch an estimated 30 million people in this country have an eating disorder and now new research found there are certain genes that make a person more likely to develop a serious eating disorder CBS 2's dr. max Gomez explains pretend long and difficult years Cayetana Martinez lived with eating disorders first anorexia from age 15 than bulimia from 18 its health on top of having like the worst critic inside your head all the time you do feel like it's your fault now scientists at Berghof a Research Institute in Australia say they can identify people
at risk for anorexia by looking at their DNA examining samples from almost 17,000 people worldwide with the illness and 55,000 without eight genes were identified that's still some myth I think a misconception that people choose to have anorexia that's not true people are deprived of control once they catch it the study also found strong genetic links between the illness and other psychiatric conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder depression anxiety and schizophrenia researchers found its metabolism that plays a role there's some hint that maybe people prater anorexia are processing those carbohydrates and fats in ways different from the
rest of the population now there are hopes a drug will be developed in the future to help treat the illness and of course made me feel like I could have been cute rather than feeling that I have to figure outside myself it's important to realize though that genetics is not necessarily destiny many factors go into turning these genes into actual anorexia so not all carriers will develop an eating disorder but knowing that it's not their fault goes a long way to removing the stigma of eating disorders for now though the treatment is still the same
treatment a lot of talk therapy and some medication to try to help people get away from that anorexia and start to eat better or to eat it all forth absolutely thank you dr. max
