
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 28, 1992                   TAG: 9203280207
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

STUDY LINKS BULIMIA TO HIGH HORMONE LEVEL

Women with the potentially fatal eating disorder bulimia nervosa often have high levels of a brain hormone associated with similar behaviors, government scientists said Friday.

Elevated levels of vasopressin were found "on average" in the bulimia patients in studies at the National Institute of Mental Health. The agency gave no specific figures.

Bulimia nervosa is marked by binge-eating, followed by induced vomiting and excessive use of laxatives to avoid weight gain.

Earlier research by Dr. Philip W. Gold, chief of the agency's clinical neuroendocrinology branch, found elevated levels of the hormone in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia nervosa, a related eating disorder.

- Associated Press

by CNB