Objective: Anorexia nervosa (AN) patients often experience gastrointestinal complications caused by their malnutrition. We hypothesized that intestinal integrity is disturbed in AN. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate serum diamine oxidase (DAO) activity, which is considered to be a clinical indicator of the integrity of the intestinal mucosa, in AN patients.
Method: Thirty-six AN female patients including 21 AN restricting type (AN-R) and 15 AN binge-eating/purging type (AN-BP) were compared with twenty healthy women on serum DAO activity using immunoassay.
Results: DAO levels in AN-R patients were significantly lower than in AN-BP patients and healthy controls.
Discussion: DAO levels were decreased in AN-R patients. This finding suggests the presence of intestinal structural disturbance as one of the physical complications of malnutrition in AN-R patients.
Keywords: eating disorder; gastrointestinal function; nutrition.
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