By comparing the sequences of these genes in healthy versus anorexic people, the team found that anorexic women consistently had
particular sequence variations in two of these three genes.
Previous work had shown that two
variations in the COX - 2 gene, with either a guanine (G) or a cytosine (C) molecule at a
particular spot in the gene's DNA
sequence, lead to different levels of COX - 2 protein.