EATING DISORDERS: ANOREXIA AND BULIMIA /BIOCHEMICAL ROOTS – SEARCHING FOR SEROTONIN
EATING DISORDERS: ANOREXIA AND BULIMIA /BIOCHEMICAL ROOTS – SEARCHING FOR SEROTONINDr. Leo Galland, an internist practicing integrated medicine in New York City and author of The Four Pillars of Healing, reports a possible relationship between bulimia and the hormone serotonin. Specifically, carbohydrate cravings in bulimics may represent an attempt to build serotonin levels in the brain. “Serotonin depletion is associated with depression,” notes Dr. Galland, “and bulimics tend to have a terrible self-image. Physiological and psychological factors feed into each other continuously.”Galland adds that bulimia is also associated with food allergies brought on by cravings for endorphin-producing foods. Bulimic individuals appear to require high levels of beta endorphins, substances released from the pancreas when insulin is produced. Often they crave foods that create an endorphinlike effect—dairy products, wheat, and sugar, for example. Bulimic people become addicted to these substances and develop food allergies.In Galland’s practice, treatment for bulimia includes removal of these dmglike foods and addition of supplements, such as 5-hydroxytrypto-phane or tryptophane taken at night to increase serotonin, chromium to help overcome hypoglycemia, and the amino acid DL-phenylalanine during the day to slow down the body’s breakdown of endorphins.*64\233\8*
