Abstract
Objectives. Magnetic resonance imaging studies revealed changes in the brains of patients suffering from anorexia nervosa (AN), such as brain volume reduction, deepening of the brain’s sulcus and fissures, widening of the lateral ventricles, and cerebrospinal fluid amount increase.
This study aims to review research relating to changes in the brain structure under the influence of malnutrition in AN and the neuronal reconstruction of the brain during clinical recovery.
Literature review. The article was prepared based on the results of neuroimaging studies in people with AN, published in Polish and English-language journals between 1990 and 2022. The research on the influence of nutritional therapy on the regression of previously occurring structural changes in the brain in AN published in Polish and English-language journals between 1990 and 2022 was also reviewed.
Conclusions. In AN, structural changes of the CNS are formed, and the total volume of the brain (TBV) and its individual brain structures decrease, i.e., the insula, hippocampus, and cerebellum. In the process of brain regeneration, it is important that people with AN receive a varied diet with high energy and nutritional density, which will enable the proper course of reconstruction processes in the body.