Research
Energy balance
Restricting-type anorexia nervosa (R-AN) patients require more calories to gain weight than binge-purging-type (BP-AN) patients.
If you have the restricting subtype of anorexia, you may need even higher calories than standard guidelines suggest compared to those who purge, as your body may be less efficient at converting calories to tissue.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Kaye and colleagues showed that R-AN patients need more calories than BP-AN patients to gain an equal amount of weight
Why this rating
Based on specific studies cited (Kaye et al.), but less comprehensive than general AN data.
Source
Nutritional rehabilitation in anorexia nervosa: review of the literature and implications for treatment
Enrica Marzola et al. · BMC Psychiatry · 2013
DOI 10.1186/1471-244x-13-290
narrative_reviewCited 175×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Patients with anorexia nervosa require significantly higher caloric intake (70-100 kcal/kg/day) to achieve weight gain compared to healthy individuals, due to a hypermetabolic state and high diet-induced thermogenesis.Good
- Post-recovery weight maintenance in anorexia nervosa requires significantly higher caloric intake (50-60 kcal/kg/day) than healthy individuals (30 kcal/kg/day) for at least 3-6 months to prevent relapse.Good
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