Binge-eating is in the genes

by ROSALIND RYAN, femail.co.uk

Binge-eaters often say they have no control over their eating habits - now science has managed to prove them right.

New research has found that a faulty gene, rather than feeble willpower, could be responsible for binge-eating.

Binge-eaters frequently and compulsively stuff themselves with food, often in secret, and tend to feel ashamed afterwards. They are usually, but not always, overweight.

Traditionally, eating behaviour has always been seen as a product of complex cultural causes. But scientists in Switzerland say a particular gene that stimulates the hunger 'centre' in the brain, has a central role to play.

The gene, known as the melanocortin 4 receptor, makes a protein that triggers your appetite in a certain area of the brain. It has previously been linked to obesity in earlier studies.

But if this gene mutates and produces too little protein, the body feels constantly hungry, prompting binge-eating.

Researchers from the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, studied 469 adults with obesity. They discovered that the more severe binge-eaters had the mutated gene compared to 'milder' binge-eaters who did not.

Dr Fritz Horber, the lead author of the study, says the research could lead the way to finding a pill to help tame binge-eaters appetites.

The study was published in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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