Plasma samples from patients and controls

Plasma samples were obtained from obese (OB) female patients all reporting hyperphagia without BED (body mass index [BMI], mean ± standard deviation, 37.51 ± 5.0 kg/m⁻², age 47.2 ± 16.3 years, n = 17), from female patients with restrictive AN (BMI, 15.01 ± 1.99 kg/m⁻², age 18.6 ± 4.9 years, n = 28), BN (BMI, 21.71 ± 3.67 kg/m⁻², age 22.4 ± 6.8 years, n = 34), and BED (BMI 33.34 ± 8.16 kg/m⁻², age 30.6 ± 11.6 years, n = 14). Plasma samples from healthy female participants were used as controls (BMI, 22.60 ± 3.77 kg/ m⁻², age 25.8 ± 8.7 years, n = 65). ED were diagnosed by a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder IV²². Sample sizes were selected based on previous experiments on analyzing IgG properties in OB and AN patients²³. Venous blood samples were taken in the morning before breakfast and centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 20 min at 4 °C to collect plasma. Samples were conserved at −80 °C. The studies were approved by the Institutional Ethical Committees and all patients gave their informed consent for study participation. It is of note that plasma samples from OB patients were obtained in Rouen University clinic (France) while plasma samples of ED patient and controls were from Tartu University clinic (Estonia). While some differences in plasma sampling procedure may be present, their potential influence on the results were minimized by studying IgG extracted from all plasma samples using the same protocol in the same laboratory. We cannot exclude whether differences in patient’s geographic location and age as well as potential comorbidities may have influenced the data.