Projects
The psychobiological impact of semi-starvation on food choices in anorexia nervosa. KU Leuven
Already during World War II, the famous Minnesota Starvation Experiment in healthy men showed that semi-starvation causes disturbed food desire, elevated negative affect, stress and disordered eating choices. We see this also in anorexia nervosa (AN) patients, where cognitive-affective processes are severely impacted by underlying physical processes once patients reach a semi-starvation state. Recent rodent research, together with limited ...
Deep brain stimulation and recording using the Synapse platform: applications in obsessive-compulsive disorder and anorexia nervosa. KU Leuven
Semi-starvation and microbiota: a catastrophic perpetuum mobile in anorexia nervosa. KU Leuven
This project investigates biological processes of semi-starvation steering nutritional choices in anorexia nervosa (AN). The causal relationship of affect-related decision-making with microbiota composition and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) levels, produced from dietary fiber in the gut by its microbiota, is investigated. This project will increase knowledge on underlying causality of AN patients' perpetuating aberrant food choices and may ...
Towards an anthropology of anorexia nervosa: Meanings of thinness and dysfunctional eating among black females in Johannesburg Ghent University
The trend in public opinion to conceptualize anorexia nervosa as an illness of the white, female upper-class ignores its occurrence in atypical communities. In South Africa, accounts of anorexia among the black population have been reported since the 1990s. However, current knowledge on these cases holds some considerable gaps. First, there is unclarity on the prevalence of anorexia among black South Africans, as different research methods ...
The Perpetuum Mobile of Semi-Starvation in Anorexia Nervosa: The Causal Impact of Microbiota on Food Choices KU Leuven
Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), suffer from alterations in motivational and appetitive functioning, making food choices difficult and re-nourishment a negative experience. For example, Patients with AN do not detect strong signals for hunger and satiety and experience a profound sense of stress and anxiety for food, instead of pleasure or reward. This project investigates the impact of biological processes associated to the semi-starved ...
Towards an anthropology of anorexia nervosa: Meanings of thinness and dysfunctional eating among black females in Johannesburg. Ghent University
This research studies anorexia nervosa among women of the black population in Johannesburg.
The project aims for a culture-specific approach in understanding and treatment by abandoning
the prescriptive, Western-based DSM-criteria. Instead, it examines dysfunctional eating in
Johannesburg in its unique local context with regards to symptoms as well as their meanings
Eating disorders and technology: Using ecological momentary assessment and biological markers to study the role of stress in anorexic behavior KU Leuven
The Eating disorders And Technology (EAT) project aims to investigate two promising mechanisms of anorexia nervosa, namely reward learning and stress. A crucial step towards improving treatment involves gaining deeper insight into the triggers for anorexic behaviour, with stress emerging as a key factor. While previous research suggests a link between stress and anorexic behaviour, it has yet to explore the potential of stress as a predictive ...
Reaching below the surface: Automatic perfectionism associations in students and persons suffering from an eating disorder KU Leuven
Kathleen DeCuyper
Prof. Dr. Dirk Hermans (supervisor), Prof. Dr. Guido Pieters, Prof. Dr. Laurence Claes (cosupervisors)
This doctoral project aims at investigating thepsychometric properties of newly developed measures of perfectionism. In the literature, the construct of perfectionism ...
Gut−Brain Interactions in Visceral Pain and the Regulation of Food Intake KU Leuven
Neurohumoral gut−brain signals are part of an integrated interoceptive system which is continuously signaling homeostatic information to the brain; normally this remains largely unperceived. Dysfunctional gut−brain signaling has been implicated in both functional (i.e. unexplained) gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, characterized by visceral pain, and food intake disorders, such as obesity. Both groups of conditions are highly prevalent and ...