American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 66, 485S-490S, Copyright © 1997 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Interactions between nutrition and immunity in anorexia nervosa: a 1-y follow-up study

A Marcos, P Varela, O Toro, I Lopez-Vidriero, E Nova, D Madruga, J Casas and G Morande
Instituto de Nutricion y Bromatologia (CSIC), Facultad de Farmacia, Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid, Spain.

Nutritional status and immunocompetence were evaluated in 15 patients suffering from anorexia nervosa in comparison with a control group (n = 15). After 1 y, data from six phases of the study were evaluated: immediately after admittance to the hospital (AN1), after 1 mo (AN2), after 2 mo (AN3), after 3 mo (AN4), after 6 mo (AN5), and after 1 y, (AN6). Patients recovered weight from AN4 until AN6 although, according to body mass index values, all patients had low weights during the 1-y follow-up. Likewise, leukocyte and lymphocyte values were borderline and lower in patients in all phases tested than in control subjects. All lymphocyte subpopulations were lower in AN1 and AN2 patients (inpatients) than in control subjects, except for CD19 cells, which remained unmodified. There seemed to be a recovery of lymphocyte subsets after hospitalization in AN3 and AN4 patients (outpatients), except for CD57, which remained below control values. However, there was a global decrease of the lymphocyte subsets in AN5 and AN6. Ratios of CD4 to CD8 cells were not altered but the ratio of CD2 to CD19 cells was lower in all phases except AN6. Moreover, cell-mediated immune function was impaired and none of the patients showed normal responses. Thus, despite the slight weight increase found in AN4, AN5, and AN6 and the apparent cell subset recovery after hospitalization, these results suggest a greatly depleted nutritional status that remained during the whole year in all patients.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Z. Chen, G. Yang, M. Zhou, M. Smith, A. Offer, J. Ma, L. Wang, H. Pan, G. Whitlock, R. Collins, et al. Body mass index and mortality from ischaemic heart disease in a lean population: 10 year prospective study of 220 000 adult men Int. J. Epidemiol., February 1, 2006; 35(1): 141 - 150. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Walrand, K. Moreau, F. Caldefie, A. Tridon, J. Chassagne, G. Portefaix, L. Cynober, B. Beaufrere, M.-P. Vasson, and Y. Boirie Specific and nonspecific immune responses to fasting and refeeding differ in healthy young adult and elderly persons Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, November 1, 2001; 74(5): 670 - 678. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]