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NOVA News Minutes
Anorexia Genes
(running time 01:32)
Transcript
July 18, 2003
NARRATOR: As a teenager, Kate Dillon was tormented
about her weight.
KATE DILLON (Model): Whether it was in PE or
coming home on the bus every day, they'd stand up, and they
would jump up and down and they would chant, "Overweight
Kate! Overweight Kate!"
NARRATOR: As shown on PBS's NOVA, becoming a
supermodel made for sweet revenge, but it came with a
price—anorexia.
KATE DILLON (Model): I mean I look at my face,
my face looks so hollow. I look so...my eyes look like
they're bulging out. And I just look so weak.
NARRATOR: Many would blame her disease on the social
pressures to be thin. But new research shows it could also
be genetic.
CYNTHIA BULIK (Director, Eating Disorders Program at
UNC Chapel Hill): Family studies have shown that if
you have a family member who has an eating disorder, you're
between seven and 12 times at greater risk for developing an
eating disorder yourself.
NARRATOR: So the researchers analyzed the DNA of
family members with anorexia. They discovered two genes that
likely play a role. Now the scientists want to find out
specifically what these genes do, and if other genes are
involved.
CYNTHIA BULIK (Director, Eating Disorders Program at
UNC Chapel Hill): It's unlikely that these are the
only two genes that influence risk for anorexia nervosa.
NARRATOR: Doctor Walter Kaye says anorexia patients
tend to share certain personality traits.
WALTER KAYE (University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center): And these are things like anxiety and
obsessionality and perfectionism.
NARRATOR: Could the two genes help shape a
personality that considers anorexia attractive?
WALTER KAYE (University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center): Part of it are the genes that we're born
with, part of it is the culture and the environment that we
grow up with. Of course what's really difficult is trying to
tease these apart.
NARRATOR: As for Dillon, she beat the disease and is
continuing her modeling career on her own terms. I'm Brad
Kloza.
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