Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that can impact anyone. They can be caused by a wide variety of reasons, from cultural and social influences to biological factors, such as genetics and hormones. This article will help you better understand these biological factors, primarily the relationship between hormones and eating disorders. The role of hormones in eating disorders can have a two-way effect, with hormonal levels impacting the intensity of the eating disorder, as well as an eating disorder having significant effects on hormonal regulation in the body. Read on to learn more about this important interaction.

What Is an Eating Disorder?

An eating disorder is a serious mental health condition characterized by intense, persistent changes in one’s relationship with food, eating, and/or body image. Eating disorders include conditions like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and more. Those who experience eating disorders often experience altered eating habits, obsessions and negative associations with food and eating, and an intense fixation on weight, size, or musculature. These symptoms often co-occur with other mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and substance use..

Symptoms of eating disorders look different for every individual. Behaviors among those experiencing an eating disorder may include:

• Restrictive eating habits or dieting
• Intense and excessive exercise 
• Significant changes in weight
• Bingeing and purging behaviors 
• Fixation on body weight and shape
• Avoidance of particular food groups
• Obsession with calories and other macronutrients
• Misuse of diuretics, laxatives, and/or diet pills
• Secretive eating habits

Eating disorders can develop for a variety of reasons. One of the highest predictors of developing an eating disorder is if a family member also had an eating disorder. Biological factors such as hormone levels can also have a significant impact on the development and maintenance of an eating disorder. It is important to note that eating disorders are treatable and recovery is possible. 

What Are Hormones?

Hormones are the chemicals that make your body and mind run smoothly. These chemicals are produced in the endocrine system and move throughout the body, signaling organs, muscles, and tissues how to operate. Over fifty specific hormones have been identified in the human body, each one essential to your body’s daily functions. Hormones control a wide variety of processes such as: 

• Metabolism: This is the body’s ability to obtain energy from food for basic body functions and physical activities. 
• Sleep cycles: Hormones regulate the four stages of sleep and how your body recharges and replenishes. 
• Sex and reproduction: Reproductive hormones play a key role in fertility, pregnancy, and other reproductive and sexual functions. 
• Growth and development: From childhood onward, pituitary glands in the endocrine system produce critical hormones for growth and development. 

The human body is communicating with all its parts via hormones. Because these chemicals are so critical to bodily functions, small changes can have serious impacts. Irregularity in hormone secretion can result in a variety of health impacts including:

• Digestive issues
• Changes in weight
• Changes in sex drive 
• Mental health conditions
• Behavioral changes
• Medical conditions, such as diabetes or infertility

Hormones are essential to our daily functions and can have significant impacts on a person’s health and wellbeing. 

Hormones and the Development of Eating Disorders

Though hormones are essential to healthy bodily function, changes in these critical chemicals can contribute to the development of eating disorders. The hormones that regulate hunger, as well as those that control reproduction, can have impacts on eating disorder development, especially if a person has a genetic or social predisposition to eating disorders. 

Hunger Hormones and Eating Disorders

There are a variety of hormones that control feelings of hunger and satiety, metabolism, and digestive processes. If these hormones become imbalanced, the ensuing impacts could play a role in the development of an eating disorder. 

The hormone ghrelin is produced in the gastrointestinal tract and signals to the brain that the stomach is empty. Once the stomach is full, ghrelin production is halted. If the body is not producing ghrelin in appropriate quantities and at the right times, a person may have trouble distinguishing feelings of fullness and satiety. There is a strong connection between ghrelin production and eating disorders such as binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa, as those who experience these conditions often struggle with identifying their feelings of fullness and hunger.

Leptin is another hormone that signals satiety. This chemical is produced in fat cells. Someone with fluctuating weight or extreme changes in body fat may experience drastic changes in leptin levels. These changes disrupt signals of fullness to the brain which can be a contributing factor in the development of an eating disorder. 

Reproductive Hormones and Eating Disorders

Hormones that control metabolism are not the only chemical factors in eating disorder development. Many reproductive hormones, like those in the estrogen category, can have significant impacts on bodily functions, especially those related to eating disorders.

Researchers have found that certain sex hormones have impacts on the system outside of their assumed reproductive roles. Estradiol, which controls reproductive development and menstruation, can also have impacts on satiety. When this chemical level is higher, it can signal satiety earlier, which can inhibit food consumption before the body is truly full. Progesterone is an ovarian hormone (produced in the ovaries) that plays a role in functions such as ovulation, thyroid hormone production, lactation, sleep cycles, and more. This chemical can have significant effects on food intake when in the presence of estradiol in the body. Lastly, testosterone, a hormone that regulates sex drive and tissue development, has been found to stimulate hunger and food intake. When these hormones fluctuate during menstrual cycles, due to contraception, or for other reasons, the body’s signals can become dysregulated, potentially lending to the development of eating disorders.

Additionally, stress hormones like cortisol or those produced by the adrenal gland are not only connected to the menstrual cycle and its various hormonal changes, but are also tied to the endocrine response of those who experience eating disorders, anxiety, and depression. It is clear that hormones are critical to the various bodily systems involved in eating disorders. Interactions between hormones, feedback loops between hormone signaling and response behaviors, co-occuring mental health problems, and the presence of medications and contraceptives all have compounding impacts. An eating disorder can develop for a variety of reasons, and hormones may have a key role. 

How Does an Eating Disorder Impact Your Hormones? 

As previously explored, there is a variety of hormones that can play a role in the development of an eating disorder. Often, these changes in hormones and ensuing eating disorders can produce a feedback loop of increased changes in hormones due to the eating disorder behaviors. If someone is experiencing an eating disorder, there can be significant impacts to hormone production and regulation, and therefore the bodily processes that those hormones control.

When a person is restricting their food intake, like in the case of eating disorders, the body is left with lower fat stores, reduced protein stores, and decreased availability of essential nutrients and vitamins. When these resources are depleted in the body, hormonal systems can become dysfunctional. Those who experience eating disorders have an increased risk of thyroid problems and reduced fat stores, which has numerous impacts on the hormones that regulate reproduction, hunger and satiety, sleep cycles, and more. 

When an eating disorder disrupts hormonal levels, there can be a variety of health impacts. These may include:

• Amenorrhea (halted menstrual cycle)
• Unpredictable changes in fertility
• Low sex drive
• Osteoporosis 
• Gastrointestinal conditions
• Increased anxiety or depression
• Altered puberty and growth in adolescents

Eating disorders and hormones are closely linked. Understanding the basics of how your body works and what your body needs to function is important, especially if you or a loved one is experiencing an eating disorder.

Seek Help

If you or a loved one is experiencing an eating disorder, you are not alone. Recovery is possible and help is available with the National Alliance for Eating Disorders.