THE eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia, hitherto regarded as purely psychiatric illnesses, may instead have a physical cause, researchers have found.

They have linked the diseases to disruptions in the body’s immune system, which cause it to attack the chemical messengers that control appetite. The research could offer new ways of treating both conditions, which together are thought to affect about 1m people in Britain.

Those who have spoken out about the ravages of bulimia include the late Diana, Princess of Wales, who described how she would binge on food and then make herself sick before restarting the cycle. Geri Halliwell, the former Spice Girl, has also written of her battle with the condition and the lack of any proven therapy.

The new study was carried out at the Karolinska Institute, a respected Swedish research centre. Professor Tomas Hokfelt, one of the researchers, described how his team found that people with eating disorders had elevated levels of a particular group of antibodies.

Antibodies are produced by the body’s immune system in response to the arrival of potentially dangerous matter from outside such as bacteria.

Sometimes, however, an antibody designed to ward off an invasive bacteria or virus can turn on the body’s own cells.

Hokfelt discovered that the antibodies he was finding in anorexics could interfere with the chemical messengers used by the body to control appetite.

He said: “Our data reveal that core psycho-behavioural abnormalities characteristic for eating disorders correlate with levels of antibodies.”

However, the finding raised the crucial question of why such antibodies had been produced in the first place.

Hokfelt found that the messenger molecules used by the body to control appetite had crucial similarities to the proteins found in common bacteria such as E coli and Helicobacter pylori, and in the Influenza A virus.

He suggests that when the body is infected by such micro-organisms it fights them off by producing antibodies. Later, however, the same antibodies begin accidentally targeting appetite-controlling molecules.

Susan Ringwood, chief executive of the Eating Disorders Association, gave the research a cautious welcome. She said: “There is already some research suggesting that eating disorders can follow an infection so this is very interesting.”

Anorexia and bulimia are the two main types of eating disorder — although many therapists see them as different manifestations of the same underlying problems.

The main symptom of anorexia nervosa is the relentless pursuit of thinness through self-starvation, driven by an obsessive fear of being fat.

Bulimics, by contrast, tend to go through periods of intense dieting followed by episodes of binge eating and then induced vomiting or the taking of laxatives. Underlying both states is an intense fear of gaining weight, plus depression, and lack of self-esteem.

About 20% of anorexics eventually die while 40% recover and the remainder continue to suffer for years. Some commit suicide.

The Swedish study suggests that it might be possible to devise effective new therapies. In theory, said Hokfelt, it should be possible to block the antibodies and so stop appetite being disrupted.

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