Hunger, Eating and Health

Hunger, eating and health are three variables that relate to each other. Eating and hunger relates to health. Our bodies have the ability to store energy for future use in times of food scarcity to enhance our survival. However, when food supply is in plenty, people are deemed to be faced with threat of health complications such as obesity. Furthermore, change of lifestyle and culture has also changed the way people eat. Many people who want to become thin engage in compulsive dieting and excising, hence end up suffering from anorexia. Therefore, due to complications in the way people eat and starve, scientists have sought to find the best mechanisms in which the health of people can be improved.

When our body system is faced with inadequate food to store, our bodies are able to store energy reserves to sustain our survival for a number of days. This function is enabled by adipose tissue called fats that helps to provide energy reserves for our body (Jeffrey & Eleftheria, 2007, p. 72). However, with ample amounts of food at our disposal, our eating habits have changed. This scenario poses threats to our health. Obesity is one of the immediate health implications that we face. Obesity occurs when fats in our bodies approach levels that comprise our health. Hence, our bodies react to starvation through cellular mechanisms.

The health of individuals is based on the diet one feeds on. Furthermore, for the diet to be effective, the regulatory systems in our body should function better. Glucose in our body is the source of energy that keeps individual going. In the case that individuals feeds properly, the level of glucose increases. Our body system regulates this glucose levels with excess glucose being stored as reserve ((Jeffrey & Eleftheria, 2007, p. 72). When the level of glucose increases, pancreas secrets insulin which triggers muscles and adipose cells to take in more glucose at the same time liver responds by triggering reduction in production of glucose. Excess energy produced by glucose is converted to triglyceride (fatty acid). In circumstances that food is not enough, level of insulin in the body falls, this trigger fatty acids to be released back in the bloodstream. On their release, they are taken to the liver and broken into ketones, which help to produce fuel for brain and muscles. This cycle rotates according to the level of food that we eat (Jeffrey & Eleftheria, 2007, p. 73). Therefore, someone who goes on hunger for a number of days may not succumb to death immediately. The health of such a person will begin deteriorating once the fatty acids are all consumed.

Our body systems have regulatory mechanisms that help in storing energy. A person who is restricted from food immediately will exhibit both behavioral and physical changes that are geared towards restoring the previous energy levels. Such a person will tend to reduce the amount of energy that is produced and will be less active and will experience hunger often. Due to decreased activity, the person weight does not decrease. The person will often feel hungry and the moment the person resumes to normal diet, the body will begin releasing a lot of energy until the weight resume to the normal levels.

It is also believed that our body system tend to favor retention of fatty acids as opposed to burning it all. This reserve acts as a backup during moments of starvation. Studies into weight have associated a gene FTO with some attributes that affects the level of weight of a person and is linked to obesity as revealed in a study conducted over 40,000 subjects. Those with the gene recorded three kilograms higher than those without it ((Jeffrey & Eleftheria, 2007, p. 74).

Hypothalamus found at the base of the brain is also acknowledged as being an important part in ensuring that the body has sufficient level of energy. In the circumstances that the body requires energy, this part of the brain is stimulated triggering production of energy to the body. Another important protein discovered by Friedman is leptin. This gene is found in fatty acids and most obese people lack the substance. An experiment conducted on mice demonstrated that those mice, which were injected with the gene experienced low level of appetite. This therefore, reduced their level of eating food resulting to production of more energy. Therefore, this gene can also be used to ensure that the health of a person is well managed. For instance, obesity people lack the gene, therefore, if they are injected, they will lack appetite to eat much food and therefore end up producing a lot of energy, which will help them to cut their weight to normal recommended weights.

People suffering from obesity can reduce their weight to normal weights through a number of ways. One of the ways of reducing obese is reduction of the level of food eaten, changing of diets, and engaging in physical exercise (Jeffrey & Eleftheria, 2007, p. 72). Other ways of reducing weight is by undergoing a bariatric surgery. Other methods include tying of ones stomach with a band to reduce the size or reroute the gut to reduce its size. Drug therapy is also used but is not preferred and in circumstances, that it is used, high standards of its administration should be adhered to. The only drug prescriptions that have been approved today in Us is serotonin, which helps in loss of appetite and weight loss and sibutramine.

According to Trisha, people suffering from Anorexia tend to feel energetic and alert when they are starving as starvations helps to boost their metabolic rate , a condition that contradicts may people as their metabolic rate slows down when they are starving (2008, p. 62). It is estimated that approximately 0.5 to 3.7% of girls and women in US Suffer from Anorexia and represents 20% of death that occurs every year in US (Trisha, 2008, p. 62). This condition does not come from behaviors of a person but is as a result of individual himself. The condition can be treated through biological approaches. Lack of food maybe an addiction to those people suffering from this condition. Use of drugs to curtail appetite affects the brain natural circulatory on the nucleus accumbens which boosts dopamine. Release of dopamine leads to a person feeling good and suppresses appetite. Ecstasy chemical found in the dopamine contributes to a person’s loss of appetite and a person does not eat as usual. Leptinhormoe can be used by women with a history of anorexia to resume their menstruation and in developing positive attitudes towards food (Trisha, 2008, p. 62). Hence, regardless of the condition, the health of a person can be improved.

Therefore, keeping healthy is something that every person should endeavor to achieve. Eating habits that are good should be adhered to avoid complexions such as obesity. Body regulatory systems have the capacity to sustain a person facing hunger through regulation of glucose in our bodies. Therefore, to ensure healthy living, people should eat balanced diets.

References

Jeffrey. S.F., & Eleftheria, M. (2007). What fuels fat, Scientific America.

Trisha, G. (2008). Anorexia may represent a profound psychiatric disorder that spawns an

addiction to deprivation. Scientific American Mind