September 6, 2021 • 2hr 13min
Healthy Eating & Eating Disorders - Anorexia, Bulimia, Binging
Huberman Lab
Key Takeaways
- Anorexia nervosa is the most dangerous psychiatric disorder, with a very high mortality rate if left untreated. It involves a failure to eat enough to maintain a healthy weight.
- Bulimia involves binge eating followed by purging (e.g. self-induced vomiting). Binge eating disorder involves binge eating without purging.
- Anorexia appears to involve disrupted habit formation and reward circuitry, where restriction of food becomes rewarding. Treatment often focuses on habit reformation.
- Bulimia and binge eating disorder involve impaired impulse control and hyperactivation of reward circuitry related to food. Treatments often target improving impulse control.
- No one can definitively say what "healthy eating" is for any individual. Cultural, familial, and individual factors all play a role in one's relationship with food.
- Recent research suggests protein ingested early in the day may be better utilized for muscle growth/maintenance compared to protein ingested later in the day.
- Knowledge of the mechanisms underlying eating behaviors and disorders can help inform better decision making around food, even for those without clinical eating disorders.
Introduction
In this episode, Dr. Andrew Huberman discusses healthy and disordered eating, with a focus on clinical eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. He explores the underlying neural mechanisms, potential treatments, and broader implications for understanding our relationship with food.
Huberman emphasizes that while no one can definitively say what "healthy eating" is for any individual, we can identify unhealthy and disordered eating patterns. He provides an overview of how hunger, satiety, and food-related behaviors are regulated in the brain and body, setting the stage for understanding how these processes can become disrupted in eating disorders.
Topics Discussed
Defining Healthy Eating and Eating Disorders (0:00)
Huberman begins by discussing the challenges of defining "healthy eating," noting that cultural, familial, and individual factors all influence one's relationship with food. He then introduces the main eating disorders that will be covered:
- Anorexia nervosa: Failure to eat enough to maintain a healthy weight
- Bulimia nervosa: Binge eating followed by purging behaviors
- Binge eating disorder: Binge eating without purging
He emphasizes that anorexia nervosa is the most dangerous psychiatric disorder, with a very high mortality rate if left untreated.
Regulation of Hunger and Satiety (39:44)
Huberman explains the basic mechanisms by which the brain and body regulate hunger and satiety:
- Mechanical signals from stomach fullness
- Chemical signals from nutrients in the bloodstream
- Hormonal signals like leptin from body fat
- Neural signals from the gut to the brain
He describes how different neurons in the hypothalamus act as "accelerators" or "brakes" on eating behavior. This sets the stage for understanding how these processes can become disrupted in eating disorders.
Anorexia Nervosa (59:58)
Huberman delves into the mechanisms underlying anorexia nervosa:
- Disrupted habit formation and reward circuitry: Anorexics develop habits of avoiding high-calorie foods and are rewarded by restriction
- Hyperawareness of food fat content: Anorexics develop an almost savant-like ability to detect fat content in foods
- Distorted body image: Genuine perceptual distortions of body shape/size
He discusses research by Dr. Joanna Steinglass showing how anorexics develop reflexive habits around food restriction that bypass normal decision-making processes. Treatment often focuses on habit reformation and family-based interventions.
Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorder (1:47:54)
Huberman contrasts the mechanisms of bulimia and binge eating disorder with anorexia:
- Impaired impulse control: Difficulty stopping eating once started
- Hyperactivation of reward circuitry related to food
- Disrupted leptin signaling in obesity associated with binge eating
He discusses how treatments often target improving impulse control, including medications that increase serotonin or dopamine signaling. He also mentions promising research on deep brain stimulation for treating binge eating disorder.
Recent Research on Protein Timing (8:55)
Huberman discusses recent research suggesting that protein ingested early in the day (between 5am-10am for humans) may be better utilized for muscle growth and maintenance compared to protein ingested later in the day. This appears to be related to circadian regulation of muscle protein synthesis.
Experimental Treatments (1:35:39)
Huberman briefly mentions ongoing clinical trials exploring the use of psychedelic compounds like MDMA and psilocybin for treating eating disorders. He emphasizes these are still experimental and should only be explored in controlled clinical settings.
Conclusion
Huberman concludes by emphasizing that while eating disorders represent extreme disruptions in our relationship with food, we can all benefit from examining our eating habits and attitudes towards food. He reiterates that there is no single definition of "healthy eating" that applies to everyone, but understanding the mechanisms underlying our eating behaviors can help us make better decisions.
He encourages listeners to develop awareness of their own eating patterns and anxiety around food. Huberman suggests that practices like mindfulness meditation may help some people develop a healthier relationship with food. Ultimately, he hopes that increased knowledge about the neuroscience of eating can lead to both better treatments for eating disorders and improved eating habits for the general population.
