Table 2.

Future research questions

•  What is the relationship between microbiome-host interactions and the trafficking of interoceptive signals in the gut? How does this crosstalk influence eating disorder expression?

•  How do metabolic-, energetic-, and exercise-related genetic markers for eating disorders influence the neural circuits of interoception?

•  How do gut predictions and prediction errors at each stage of food consumption influence the development and/or maintenance of eating disorder symptoms? Do increased gut prediction error signals promote restriction, while decreased gut prediction error signals promote binge eating and purging?

•  How do the neural circuits of gastrointestinal interoception interact with those implicated in reward, emotion regulation, habitual behavior, and cognitive control?

•  To what extent does the neurocircuitry underlying eating disorders overlap with that of functional gastrointestinal disorders?

•  Which interoceptive targets within the gastrointestinal system show the most promise for early identification, prevention, or treatment of eating disorders?