"Starving Is Just Like Ecstasy For Anorexics"...NO!!

Say it isn't so!

Gad, here's another sensationalistic headline to deconstruct:

Starving is like ecstasy use for anorexia sufferers

09:00 02 October 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Alison Motluk

Anorexia and ecstasy use activate some of the same brain pathways, according to researchers who used mice to arrive at their conclusions. [NOTE: because we all know that mice are overly concerned about their body image.] The findings hint that the condition works in a similar way to drug addiction, and may also point the way towards new drug treatments for the eating disorder.

. . .

Valerie Compan at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Montpellier, France, is one of a growing number of researchers who believes that anorexia works in a similar way to addiction and that sufferers become "hooked" on the self-control involved.

After noticing that ecstasy (also called MDMA) use induces appetite suppression, she decided to investigate possible similarities further. Compan and colleagues focused on the nucleus accumbens, a reward centre in the brain with a high density of serotonin receptors – known as 5-HT4 receptors – that are known to play a role in addictive behaviour.

I would comment on the actual journal article...except PNAS has not yet made the paper available to the non-press. I hate that! Why aren't you sending me embargoed copies of your papers, hmm?