Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a psychological illness with devastating physical consequences; however, its pathophysiological mechanism remains unclear. Because numerous reports have indicated the importance of gut microbiota in the regulation of weight gain, it is reasonable to speculate that AN patients might have a microbial imbalance, i.e. dysbiosis, in their gut. In this study, we compared the fecal microbiota of female patients with AN (n = 25), including restrictive (ANR, n = 14) and binge-eating (ANBP, n = 11) subtypes, with those of age-matched healthy female controls (n = 21) using the Yakult Intestinal Flora-SCAN based on 16S or 23S rRNA–targeted RT–quantitative PCR technology. AN patients had significantly lower amounts of total bacteria and obligate anaerobes including those from the Clostridium coccoides group, Clostridium leptum subgroup, and Bacteroides fragilis group than the age-matched healthy women. Lower numbers of Streptococcus were also found in the AN group than in the control group. In the analysis based on AN subtypes, the counts of the Bacteroides fragilis group in the ANR and ANBP groups and the counts of the Clostridium coccoides group in the ANR group were significantly lower than those in the control group. The detection rate of the Lactobacillus plantarum subgroup was significantly lower in the AN group than in the control group. The AN group had significantly lower acetic and propionic acid concentrations in the feces than the control group. Moreover, the subtype analysis showed that the fecal concentrations of acetic acid were lower in the ANR group than in the control group. Principal component analysis confirmed a clear difference in the bacterial components between the AN patients and healthy women. Collectively, these results clearly indicate the existence of dysbiosis in the gut of AN patients.

Objective: To investigate predictors of dropout from a group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention for overweight or obese women. Methods: 119 overweight and obese Japanese women aged 25-65 years who attended an outpatient weight loss intervention were followed throughout the 7-month weight loss phase. Somatic characteristics, socioeconomic status, obesity-related diseases, diet and exercise habits, and psychological variables (depression, anxiety, self-esteem, alexithymia, parenting style, perfectionism, and eating attitude) were assessed at baseline. Significant variables, extracted by univariate statistical analysis, were then used as independent variables in a stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis with dropout as the dependent variable. Results: 90 participants completed the weight loss phase, giving a dropout rate of 24.4%. The multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated that compared to completers the dropouts had significantly stronger body shape concern, tended to not have jobs, perceived their mothers to be less caring, and were more disorganized in temperament. Of all these factors, the best predictor of dropout was shape concern. Conclusion: Shape concern, job condition, parenting care, and organization predicted dropout from the group CBT weight loss intervention for overweight or obese Japanese women.

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Background:Sleep has been identified as having an influence on the success of weight-loss interventions; however, knowledge of the mechanisms and the extent to which sleep disturbances affect the magnitude of weight reduction is inconclusive.Objective:To determine if sleep duration and quality can predict the magnitude of weight reduction in a weight-loss intervention program for overweight and obese women.Methods:Ninety overweight and obese women aged 25–65 years completed the 7-month weight-loss phase of our weight-loss intervention. Sleep duration and quality were evaluated before the intervention by the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), a self-report questionnaire, and by actigraphy. Serum levels of ghrelin, leptin, cortisol and insulin also were measured at baseline. Insulin resistance was measured by the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR).Results:The mean reduction rate of body mass index (BMI) after the intervention was 13.6%. Multiple linear regression revealed that the number of wake episodes (WEs) per night had a significant relationship with the reduction of BMI even after adjusting for other clinical variables (β=−0.341, P=0.001). The participants with five or more WEs per night (high-WE group) had a significantly lower reduction in BMI compared with those with fewer than five (normal-WE group), after adjusting for confounding variables. In contrast, the PSQI-assessed parameters, reflecting the subjective assessments of sleep quality and duration, failed to detect an association with the reduction in BMI. Baseline HOMA-IR was significantly higher in the high-WE group than in the normal-WE group after adjusting for confounding variables.Conclusions:Higher sleep fragmentation, as manifested by the increased number of WEs, predicts a lower magnitude of weight reduction in persons participating in weight-loss programs.

The development of type 1 diabetes in preadolescence or adolescence seems to place girls at risk for the subsequent development of AN or BN. Careful attention should be paid to these high-risk patients.