Oxytocin is Associated with Anxiety and Depression in Anorexia Nervosa

Dr. David Herzog is an internationally renowned eating disorders expert credited with over 280 publications and board certified in Pediatrics, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and General Psychiatry.  Dr. Herzog was the first Endowed Professor of Psychiatry in the Field of Eating Disorders at Harvard Medical School.  For over 25 years, he has teamed with the Neuroendocrine Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital to better understand the hormonal factors that contribute to anorexia nervosa and to develop interventions that address complications, such as anxiety and depression.

Produced in the hypothalamus and secreted by the pituitary gland, the peptide hormone oxytocin helps regulate appetite and may have properties that help alleviate anxiety and depression. Prior research by Dr. Herzog and his team found that women with anorexia nervosa have abnormal post-meal levels of oxytocin, even after weight recovery. To follow up on these findings, these scientists investigated the relationship between abnormal oxytocin secretion in anorexia nervosa and psychiatric symptoms.

35 women between the ages of 18 and 28 were recruited from the community to participate in the study. 13 of these 35 had active anorexia nervosa, 9 were weight-recovered from anorexia nervosa, and 13 were healthy controls.  All the subjects were given a meal standardized for nutrient content.  The participants had serial blood tests that measured their hormone levels and completed questionnaires that assessed their symptoms of anxiety and depression.   

The study found that increased post-meal oxytocin secretion was associated with severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms in women with anorexia nervosa. These relationships remained significant after the investigators controlled for the appetite-regulating hormone cortisol, which has been implicated in anxiety and depressive symptoms in anorexia nervosa.

The findings of the study raised the question of whether abnormal post-meal oxytocin levels are, in part, a response to food-induced stress in individuals with anorexia.  Further research is needed to shed light on this question.