Towards a mechanistic framework for understanding early-onset restrictive eating disorders

Abstract

Restrictive eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, present with severe underweight but differ in their clinical presentations and psychiatric comorbidities. Distinguishing brain alterations primarily driven by low BMI from those associated with eating disorder and comorbidity-related pathophysiology remains a crucial challenge that we aimed to address in this study.