Two strains of rats, cans of vanilla frosting and a theory have helped MSU professor of psychology Kelly Klump take one step closer to finding the genetic causes, and eventually a treatment, for binge eating.
In her latest research, Klump decided to use rats to help identify different biological and genetic factors that contribute to binge eating.
“Based upon our previous research, we know that binge eating is influenced by genes, but we have been unable to identify in humans which genes contribute to binge eating. With this research, we decided to study two different strains of rats instead of humans,” Klump said. “Unlike humans, animals do not have the cultural, psychological or psychosocial risk factors for binge eating, so they are simpler to study. A rat could care less what it looks like.”
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