Anorexia nervosa is a severe psychological disorder, and current treatment of anorexia nervosa relies on psychotherapy and medical nutritional support. The study applied food additives to the relevant treatment, aiming to help improve the patients’ diet.

Patients who met the diagnostic criteria of anorexia nervosa were randomly selected and divided into experimental and control groups, with 25 patients in each group. The experimental group received food additive-assisted treatment, while the control group received only conventional treatment. Before and after treatment, the patients’ body mass index (BMI) and height were measured, and eating disorders were assessed using the EDE-Q. The resultant data were analyzed using SPSS22.0.

After treatment, the BMI of the experimental group was significantly higher than that before treatment (F=18.42, P<0.05), while the BMI of the control group did not change significantly (F=9.71, P>0.05). In the EDE-Q scale assessment, the experimental group scored lower than the control group in terms of frequency of binge eating, frequency of emesis, and restriction of eating factor, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05).

After treatment, patients in the experimental group showed a significant increase in BMI, and the frequency of binge eating, frequency of emetic, and restriction of eating factor scores were lower than those of the control group. This suggests that food additives may have potential efficacy in alleviating the symptoms of anorexia nervosa.