Editorial: What Do Alterations in Plasma Lipidome Tell Us About Refeeding in Anorexia Nervosa?

Tam et al.1 take a rigorous look at the changes in plasma lipids that occur during the early part of the refeeding process in female patients, primarily adolescent girls and young women, with anorexia nervosa (AN). Their detailed analyses are timely, as investigators seek to develop refeeding protocols that are safe and effective, while reducing duration of illness, cost of treatment, and time in higher levels of care for patients with AN,2-4 a physically and mentally disabling disease that has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. The article by Tam and colleagues is important in what it examines. However, it is also important to note what it does not examine, so that other investigators may be inspired to explore and illuminate other aspects of the refeeding process and associated long-term outcomes.