Am J Psychiatry 1991; 148:1071-1072
Copyright © 1991 by American Psychiatric Association
Decrease in resting metabolic rate during abstinence from bulimic behavior
M Altemus, MM Hetherington, M Flood, J Licinio, ML Nelson, AS Bernat and PW Gold
Clinical Neuroendocrinology Branch, NIMH, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Among eight normal-weight bulimic women studied during 1 week of binge
eating and vomiting and 7 weeks of abstinence without weight loss, resting
metabolic rate and T3 and T4 levels fell significantly during abstinence.
These data suggest that a physiological consequence of binge eating and
vomiting is an increase in metabolic rate, in part due to increased thyroid
hormone activity.
