Food restriction leads to binge eating dependent upon the effect of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism

Association between brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met and obesity in children and adolescents

“…Each BDNF Met allele was significantly associated with an increase in BMI, and the BDNF Val/Met genotype significantly increased the risk for obesity in children. This finding partially replicates a recent report showing that girls who were Met carriers had a tendency for higher BMI (Akkermann et al, 2011), however in contrast to our participants, these Caucasian girls of Estonian origin practiced extreme weight restriction behaviors. On the other hand, our results diverge from a study of young participants of German origin that failed to detect significant differences in the distribution of the BDNF Val66Met variants between extremely obese children and adolescents, underweight students, patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and normal weight controls (Friedel et al, 2005), and from the data showing no association between BDNF Val66Met and susceptibility to develop eating disorders in Spanish schoolchildren of Caucasian background (Arija et al, 2010).…”

“…On the other hand, our results diverge from a study of young participants of German origin that failed to detect significant differences in the distribution of the BDNF Val66Met variants between extremely obese children and adolescents, underweight students, patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and normal weight controls (Friedel et al, 2005), and from the data showing no association between BDNF Val66Met and susceptibility to develop eating disorders in Spanish schoolchildren of Caucasian background (Arija et al, 2010). The discrepancies between our and the aforementioned results might be explained by the fact that we included only healthy young participants, while other studies (Akkermann et al, 2011;Arija et al, 2010;Friedel et al, 2005) included either extremely obese or underweight participants, as well as subjects with eating disorders or risk for eating disorders. Aria et al (2010) hypothesized that the lack of association between the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism and risk for eating disorders might be due to an effect of age.…”

“…Most of the studies evaluated the role of BDNF Val66Met in eating disorders, and found either a significant association (Akkermann et al, 2011;Gratacos et al, 2007), or no association (Arija et al, 2010;Friedel et al, 2005) between the Met allele and eating disorders. The ethnic (Pivac et al, 2009), as well as population-related genetic differences (Petryshen et al, 2010) might explain the conflicting association results showing either that BDNF Val66Met Met/Met genotype was more frequently found in adult women with higher (Beckers et al, 2008) or with lower (Shugart et al, 2009) BMI.…”

The BDNF gene Val66Met polymorphism as a modifier of psychiatric disorder susceptibility: progress and controversy

“…From a conceptual perspective, as eating disorders are more common among females, 163 the putative interaction of ovarian sex steroid hormones and BDNF expression during development 164 make the interaction of these two factors a promising molecular pathway within the eating disorder literature. Further, the association of the 66Met allele with binging behavior, 165 which appears to be modulated by dietary restriction, 166 is another potential pathway worthy of investigation.…”

Neurotrophins and the Regulation of Energy Balance and Body Weight

“…Thus, the findings described above raise the interesting possibility that perturbed BDNF signaling underlies decreases in dopamine tone induced by food restriction that might lead to maladaptive behaviors, including disordered eating. Interestingly, a recent study involving adolescent girls showed that carriers of the BdnfVal66Met allele that engaged in food restriction were more likely to exhibit binge eating than wild-type carriers (Akkermann et al 2011). These data suggest an interaction of food restriction and diminished BDNF signaling in the emergence of eating disorders.…”