The Impact of Oxytocin on Food Intake and Emotion Recognition in Patients with Eating Disorders: A Double Blind Single Dose Within-Subject Cross-Over Design

Youl-Ri Kim; Jin-Sup Eom; Jae-Won Yang; Jiwon Kang; Janet Treasure

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0137514

The Impact of Oxytocin on Food Intake and Emotion Recognition in Patients with Eating Disorders: A Double Blind Single Dose Within-Subject Cross-Over Design

PLoS One. 2015 Sep 24;10(9):e0137514. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137514. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Youl-Ri Kim¹, Jin-Sup Eom², Jae-Won Yang³, Jiwon Kang⁴, Janet Treasure⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul Paik Hospital, Inje University, Seoul, South Korea; Institute of Eating Disorders and Mental Health, Inje University, Seoul, South Korea.
² Department of Psychology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, South Korea.
³ Department of Psychology, The Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon, South Korea.
⁴ Institute of Eating Disorders and Mental Health, Inje University, Seoul, South Korea.
⁵ Section of Eating Disorders, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Background and aim: Social difficulties and problems related to eating behaviour are common features of both anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). The aim of this study was to examine the impact of intranasal oxytocin on consummatory behaviour and emotional recognition in patients with AN and BN in comparison to healthy controls.

Materials: A total of 102 women, including 35 patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), 34 patients with bulimia nervosa (BN), and 33 healthy university students of comparable age and intelligence, participated in a double-blind, single dose placebo-controlled cross-over study. A single dose of intranasal administration of oxytocin (40 IU) (or a placebo) was followed by an emotional recognition task and an apple juice drink. Food intake was then recorded for 24 hours post-test.

Results: Oxytocin produced no significant change in appetite in the acute or 24 hours free living settings in healthy controls, whereas there was a decrease in calorie consumption over 24 hours in patients with BN. Oxytocin produced a small increase in emotion recognition sensitivity in healthy controls and in patients with BN, In patients with AN, oxytocin had no effect on emotion recognition sensitivity or on consummatory behaviour.

Conclusions: The impact of oxytocin on appetite and social cognition varied between people with AN and BN. A single dose of intranasal oxytocin decreased caloric intake over 24 hours in people with BN. People with BN showed enhanced emotional sensitivity under oxytocin condition similar to healthy controls. Those effects of oxytocin were not found in patients with AN.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov KCT00000716.

Publication types

Clinical Trial
Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Administration, Intranasal
Adolescent
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Anorexia Nervosa / drug therapy
Anorexia Nervosa / physiopathology
Anorexia Nervosa / psychology
Bulimia Nervosa / drug therapy
Bulimia Nervosa / physiopathology
Bulimia Nervosa / psychology
Cross-Over Studies
Emotions / drug effects*
Facial Expression
Feeding Behavior / drug effects*
Feeding and Eating Disorders / drug therapy*
Feeding and Eating Disorders / physiopathology*
Feeding and Eating Disorders / psychology*
Female
Humans
Oxytocin / administration & dosage
Oxytocin / therapeutic use*
Young Adult

Substances

Oxytocin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a donation from the parents of a Korean patient with anorexia nervosa. This work was also supported by the Swiss Anorexia Nervosa Foundation. Janet Treasure receives salary support from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.