Obesity and Omega-3s Reduce Appetite Essay

Psychological factors also play a large role in obesity. Many people eat in response to negative emotions such as sadness, depression and anger. These people are generally binge eaters. During a binge eating episode, a person eats large amounts of food and feel that they cannot control how much they are eating. These people have more difficulty losing weight and keeping it off than others without a binge eating problem. It is common that binge eaters suffer from low self esteem and depression.

Konnikova starts her deliberations by pointing out that, “Being genuinely hungry … in the sense of physiologically needing food—matters little.” We can feel full after a meal, but receptors from the outside, like smelling, seeing, reading or even thinking about food can make us feel hungry again. We can all associate with that feeling when we want to eat something, and it’s not because we’re hungry, but because we want to. It has nothing to do with a need of our body. The author clarifies that, “Recent studies show that our physical level of hunger, in fact, does not correlate strongly with how much hunger we say that we feel or how much food

     Obesity is the net result of an excess of energy consumption over expenditure. Factors that must be considered as contributing to causation are: heredity, and altered metabolism of adipose tissue, the list goes on and on. Overeating is clearly a prominent contributor to obesity. Feeding behavior occurs in response to hunger and to appetite induced by the presence of food.

Ghrelin, commonly referred to as the “hunger hormone,” is a 28-amino acid peptide that has many important roles in human digestion including regulation of growth hormone release, enhancement of appetite, and increase of food intake (1). This gut-derived peptide could play an extremely important role in the altered eating behaviors of patients with eating disorders. Increased fasting plasma ghrelin levels have been consistently reported in underweight patients with anorexia nervosa. Circulating levels of this hormone have also been found to be enhanced in symptomatic bulimic patients, while also being blunted in response to balanced meals (4).

There has been research showing that serotonin, a brain chemical, influences a person's eating behavior. If there is a deficiency of the neurotransmitter serotonin this could cause cravings for sweets and other

Internally, the hunger we feel is conceived from the brain. It has once occurred to me that I did not realize lunch time passing because I was too busy working. This is clear proof that internal influence of hunger is by the brain and not the stomach (Hockenbury and Sandra 63). The brain part that regulates the hunger feeling is called hypothalamus. This segment of the brain is separated into the lateral and

Not just a simple hormone, but a very strong one. This hormone basically tells your brain how much fat you have, what to do with it, and also - where to store it. It really tells the brain what to do. That’s why leptin controls appetite, fat-loss, and decides whether you have fat in your belly, hips, or spread evenly all over your

One hypothesis suggests that bulimia nervosa is the behavioral manifestation of the underactivity of serotonin. Serotonin is one of the hormones/neurotransmitters that regulates vital functions, such as eating, in the central nervous system. It is also thought to be responsible for controlling states of consciousness and mood. Serotonin is special: its own synthesis and release is enhanced by some foods, suppressed by others, and unaffected by yet others. The effects are all dependent on nutritional content. Transmitters are also affected by not eating. The brain easily detects how long an individual has gone without food. These qualities enable serotonin-releasing neurons to control one type of appetite: that for eating the appropriate amounts of carbohydrates and proteins. However, these same neurons can cause food consumption to affect other behaviors linked with serotonin such as sleepiness and environmental stimuli. They may also allow mood disturbances to override appetite control mechanisms, causing an individual to eat unnecessarily (Winik 27-34).

1994). Leptin is secreted primarily by adipocytes, proportionally to fat cell mass, and contributes to energy metabolism. Leptin will affect the energy balance by acting on the brain. Leptin can activate, directly or indirectly, specific centers in the hypothalamus to decrease food intake, to increase any energy expenditure, to influence the glucose, lipid metabolism, and alter neuroendocrine function (Campfield, Smith et al. 1995). Leptin resistance, in regards to obesity, was coined due to the increased leptin levels with no impact on regulating energy homeostasis. Leptin resistance causes insulin resistance and the accumulation of lipids is a direct result of the reduction of lipid oxidation in insulin-sensitive organs; shown in preclinical and clinical experiments with obese rodents and humans. However, the mechanisms that may lead to leptin resistance are still being researched (Mori, Hanada et al.

Hunger affects many people in their daily lives. In the article from C. George Boeree he states, “the biology of how that hungry feeling starts and some of the psychological problems that you can get if you eat too much or not enough”. Boeree also states in his article that “the first thing you feel when you are hungry is a strong “hunger pang”.” A hunger pang is a stomach contraction which is like a signal to your body telling you that you are hungry. The second thing that he states in his article is about “how you tend to crave the certain food you want and that it comes from the hypothalamus.” The hypothalamus is a part of the brain which controls many things, such as, how much food or drink intake you consume. Another important role

This system is comprised of Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) and AgRP neurons of the arcuate hypothalamus (Arc), neuropeptides α-MSH and AgRP, and central melanocortin receptors (MCRs) MC3R and MC4R. POMC and AgRP neurons monitor energy state and change their activity to alter feeding and body weight. When energy needs are met, POMC neurons release α-MSH which acts as an agonist on MC3R and MC4R. AgRP is released in response to an energy deficit and acts as an inverse agonist/antagonist of the central MCRs. Activation of POMC and AgRP neuron signaling has an opposite effect on feeding behavior such that the stimulation of POMC neurons or injection of MCR agonist decreases food intake and body weight27-29 , whereas AgRP neuron activation, central administration or overexpression of AgRP stimulates food intake and weight gain27,30-33. In addition to neuropeptide-mediated signaling, both POMC and AgRP neurons are also capable of fast neurotransmission via Glutamate and/or GABA34-36 and this neurotransmission has been suggested to play an important role in the ability of POMC and AgRP neurons to control feeding27,32. Although much is known about the role of AgRP and POMC neurons in the regulation of feeding and body weight, there is still much to be learned about the larger role these neurons play in energy homeostasis, including their interactions with non-homeostatic circuits, and a better understanding of the role GABA and Glutamate released from POMC and AgRP neurons play in feeding

It is crucial to stop obesity at its root because of the difficulty keeping weight off after losing it. A recent study has shown that there is a biological reason for that problem that many people have had. Once a person has gained weight, it is hard to lose it, but much harder to stop from gaining much of it back. The study shows that this problem is not willpower; it is hormones. Body weight is regulated by hormones released by the pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, and hypothalamus. These regulate how hungry we are versus how much energy we use. A 2011 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that subjects’ hormone levels, specifically leptin and ghrelin, after they had lost weight were not normal for their new weight; they did not adjust properly for the new weight. In fact, not only that, but the hormones were triggering hunger and causing the storing of fat. When a person who has never gained and lost weight might use fifteen calories to ride a bicycle for a certain amount of time, a person who has lost weight might only expend five calories. In other words, calories that the subjects took in were not being used as they should be because the body was storing them as fat instead. This was their bodies’ attempt to regain the weight and return to what the body thought of as normal. This landmark finding has begun to make doctors, scientists, and researchers think differently about weight regain. Often, it

The leptin hormone is derived from adipose (fat) tissues. This circulating hormone is used to communicate to the central nervous system (CNS) and indicates whether the body has enough energy present. When there is enough energy, leptin communicates to the body that it is full; signaling to the body that it no longer needs to nourish itself. When there is enough energy present and no food intake, the body then utilizes and expends the energy that is presently stored. In this research paper, I will briefly cover the pathway of a normally functioning leptin; as well as the mechanism of leptin resistance, and research is provided to elaborate.

The most common eating disorder in our society is excessive eating which includes craving and compulsive eating which can quite often result in obesity (http://www.nutramed.com/zeno/addictive.htm#exorphins). Obesity is a body condition where a person's body mass index is greater than 30. Other diseases that can accompany or follow obesity include diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Also, obese people are at a greater risk of certain kinds of cancer like breast, colon, and uterine cancer. Nori Geary, an associate professor of psychiatry at Cornell University, did a great deal of work on the physiological control of feeding behavior

There are multiple ways to be guided to an eating disorder other than the media. “Eating behavior is a complex process controlled by the neuroendocrine system of which the Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal-axis (HPA axis) is a major component” (News Medical). Psychological research is very important to patients who have an eating disorder. Throughout the research in the paper, researchers have come to a conclusion that some of the qualities in the brain a person has a certain level