Genetic Aspects of Eating Disorders

Although the etiology of eating disorders, and specifically anorexia nervosa (AN), was long considered to be predominantly psychosocially determined, in recent years, formal and molecular genetic studies have shown that hereditary influences also play a significant role. Investigating the genetics of complex phenotypes such as AN, which can be broken down into numerous subtypes, endo- and subphenotypes, each showing their own genetic characteristics, is fraught with immense difficulties. AN is not a monogenic disease; rather, it is likely that numerous genetic variants contribute to the pathology to varying degrees.