In the first study, published today in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 31 patients with anorexia and 33 healthy controls were given either a dose of oxytocin, delivered via nasal spray, or a placebo. The participants were then asked to look at sequences of images relating to food (high and low calorie), body shape (fat and thin), and weight (scales). Once the images flashed on screen, the researchers measured how quickly participants identified the images. If they had a tendency to focus on the negative images, they would identify them more rapidly. The test was done before and after taking oxytocin or placebo.
After taking oxytocin, patients with anorexia reduced their focus (or ‘attentional bias’) on images of food and fat body parts. The effect of oxytocin was particularly strong in patients with anorexia who had greater communication problems.