00:00 Did you know there's a strong link between ADHD, autism and eating disorders?
00:04 Or that the most common eating disorder in Australia is binge eating disorder, which
00:08 develops at age 25 on average and affects people of all genders.
00:11 And I bet you have no idea that there's an increase in menopausal women getting anorexia.
00:16 Researchers are busting old myths about who gets eating disorders and why.
00:20 And that means new hope for treatments geared towards those groups.
00:22 Here are three examples of how eating disorder treatments could change for the better soon.
00:26 Number one, gearing treatment towards neurodivergent patients.
00:30 About one third of eating disorder patients are autistic or have ADHD or another condition
00:35 like Tourette's.
00:36 And while traditional eating disorder treatments haven't factored that into the equation, there's
00:39 a push for that to change.
00:40 Advocates say all treating doctors should not only know about the links between neurodivergent
00:45 and eating disorders, but provide care that steers clear of old assumptions and treatments
00:50 that harm and invalidate these patients.
00:52 Number two, introducing hormone replacement therapy for anorexia patients.
00:56 Researchers are also looking into new treatments for anorexia that draw on its link to estrogen.
01:01 There are currently no effective medications for anorexia, but new research into medicated
01:06 estrogen patches applied directly to patient skin could offer hope.
01:09 Number three, new drugs being tested for binge eating disorder.
01:13 This common eating disorder has been pretty overlooked for decades, but recently some
01:16 small studies have found that some particular drugs in the same class as Ozempic could actually
01:21 reduce binge eating.
01:22 More research is needed, but these studies at least offer some hope.
01:25 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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