University of Louisville awarded $11.5 million to research ways to prevent eating disorders

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A researcher at University of Louisville was awarded $11.5 million to research ways to prevent eating disorders.

National Institutes of Health awarded the funding so researcher Dr. Cheri Levinson could better understand and address the effects of eating disorders. Around 9% of Americans are affected by eating disorders.

Levinson will investigate how eating disorders can develop in childhood and adolescence, which can lead to suicidal behaviors.

"UofL has made a longstanding commitment to groundbreaking research and discovery that makes a positive impact on our world," UofL President Kim Schatzel said in a news release. "This is research that can save and improve the lives of millions of Americans and many, many more around the world impacted by eating disorders."

Levinson specializes in the study and intervention of eating and anxiety disorders. She believes a personalized approach to diagnosis and treatment is key for individual treatment. The disorders can have different affects on people of different ages, ethnicities, gender identities and backgrounds.

"This work not only will create options, but opens this whole possibility for treatments that are personalized based on the individual," Levinson said. "Because eating disorders don’t just affect one kind of person and there are a multitude of different factors that can influence them."

Levinson and her team will study how eating disorders develop in childhood and beyond.

Anorexia typically involves restrictive eating habits and can cause abnormally low blood pressure and organ damage. Binge eating disorder is a compulsion in the other direction. Still, having an eating disorder does not invariably mean someone is overweight or underweight — and that’s left many who suffer with the mental illness to go undiagnosed, experts say.

More than 10,000 people will lose their life to the condition every year, according to data cited by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

Levinson said only 50% of people get better from the disorders.

"It's made clear to me and my team that we can't just continue to do the same old thing, because people are dying," Levinson said. "This research has the capacity to make sure that everyone with an eating disorder can get well and thrive in their life."