One of a substance that product by the fat cell in our body is called Leptin, if we have more fat cells, we are able to produce more leptin, and it plays a key role in regulating energy intake and expenditure, including appetite, hunger, metabolism, and behavior. When the levels of Leptin are high, animals act as if they have plenty of nutrition, they will eat less and become more active, and increase the activity of their immune system. On the other hand, the levels of Leptin are low; animals will eat more, and rest more because they have to conserve energy that affords to devote energy to their immune system. However, animals with the obese gene does not make leptin which means they feels starving, try to eat as much as possible and try to conserves its energy by not moving much. Do animals really stops eating when they have high level of Leptin and starts become hungry when they have low level of Leptin?
For the result of the online research, I have found an article that was published by M. Flavia Barbano and Martine Cador who are studying at the University Victor Segalen Bordeaux in France. Also, this report has done at the Laboratory of Neuropsychology in the University Victor Segalen Bordeaux. This journal have used thirty two rats and three experiences by investigating the motivation, anticipatory, and consummatory aspects of feeding, it tested the appetite of a rats which was full by giving their favorite food The result are able to determine the authenticity about the theory of Leptin by using short and long term regulation of feeding. In the test, the investigators have used about a month which included the settlement for the rats moving from a cage into the glass bowl to get the result, and the research conducted succes...
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... to eat the chocolate cereal rather than the normal chow. However, the result in test two was not the main point that verifies the authenticity about the theory of Leptin.
In the third test, the investigator providing the normal chow for the rats and fed them until they were full which means the level of the leptin are high in the rats and the message that sending from the brain will let the rats stop eating and started become active. At that time, the rats stop eating; the authors provided the chocolate cereal which is the favorite food of the rats in front of them when they contain a high level of leptin. Although the rat still ate some of the chocolate cereal, after a few bites, the rats could not continue. The rats’ desires for food clearly decreased due to the lower level of leptin. Even when presented of leptin still played an important role in their appetite.
Hence, in his experiment, Skinner placed rats in the Skinner box and observed its’ behaviors. Initially, these rats would be randomly moving around exploring, and would usually press the bar accidently. At this point, a food pellet would drop into the tray. He observed that if a hungry rat receives a pellet of food when it presses a lever after, maybe 2 minutes have elapsed since the last pellet, then its response rate increases with the passage of time. In other words, after the first incident of the food pellet dropping into the tray, the rate of the rats pressing the bar rises dramatically and remains high until the rats hunger were satisfied. Thus, this study showed a clear association made between the behavior and the consequence of that behavior. In this case, the consequence of a behavior encouraged the repetition of that behavior also known as positive reinforcement.
After reading both articles, the “cookie monster” article lacks essential information need for the research. For a research to be experimental there are certain variables that needs to be taken into consideration before arriving at a conclusion. Necessary information needed to understand the experimental ...
6. Fried, S. K., Ricci, M. R., Russell, C. D., & Laferrère, B. (2000). Regulation of Leptin Production in Humans. Journal of Nutrition , 3127S-3131S.
The Western Diet mainly consists of fried foods, refined grains, sugar, high carbohydrate and fats, and meats (3). It has been hypothesized that having a Western Diet increases one’s chances for developing depression. There has been a great deal of research into why the western diet increase’s one chance of having depression. A common sense reason maybe that the Western Diet consisted of large amounts carbohydrates, fats and sugars which promotes obesity and then causes depression (1). More scientific evidence suggest that having a improper diet like the Western Diet negatively affects peripheral and central dopamine, which are neurotransmitters (chemical which transmit signals across the synapse from the nerve cell to the target cell) directly linked to the mental health of the brain and are negatively affected by high fat diets (4). Research has also suggested that having a poor nutrition status such as lacking folate (a natural water form of vitamin bg which is crucial for many of the bodies processes) and key vitamins like vitamin b12 significantly increases the risk of depression in elderly people (5). Research into the topic of dietary habits and mental health is very crucial with the growing rates of obesity and depression in the United States compared to the rest of the world. Thus, does having poor dietary habits increase the likelihood of having depression? The likelihood of developing depression has been linked to the type of diet one consumes such as the Western Diet, Diets Low in Fat and Carbohydrates and weight control diets like binge eating.
Ziauddeen and Fletcher in this article discuss the concept of food addiction from a clinical and neuroscientific perspective. They argue that the evidence in food addiction is limited and that further research must be done in order to fully validate the concept. Despite the uncertainty, food addiction has influenced the neurobiological models of obesity and developing debates about formulation of the public health policy. Ziauddeen and Fletch also debate that because there are so many possibly pathways leading to obesity, it is unlikely that food addiction is the most effective cause. Even with their caution, they also propose there are many arguments saying many aspects of eating in obesity are “addictive.”
Most people consume a high carbohydrate breakfast of cereal, toast or pancakes after a night's sleep because the body craves those types of food when its blood sugar level is low. However, meals high in carbohydrates increase the brain's level of the amino acid tryptophan, which increases serotonin levels. Glucose from the digested carbohydrates causes the body to secret insulin. Insulin tells cells to pull amino acids, except tryptophan, out of the blood stream for storage. So, tryptophan keeps circulating and is available for neurons that use it to make serotonin. Serotonin is a calming neurotransmitter that makes you feel relaxed and satisfied. Serotonin is an essential neurotransmitter for a well-...
The study presented in this presentation focus on four different aspects of the influence of neurotransmitters that have an influence on eating. The first aspect is a 36 amino acid peptide transmitter known as the NPY. The NPY contains five different receptors; Y1, Y2, Y4, Y5, and Y6. Y2 is specifically geared towards memory. Y5 pertains to eating. Y6 is found in some animals, but not really found in humans. The Y1 and Y5 receptors are specifically for eating. The more NPY found within the body, the more a person would eat. A question, which was presented in this presentation, was if certain areas of the brain could be identified as being responsive to the metabolic action of the NPY. In order to study this idea, and experiment was performed where NPY was injected directly into different target areas. From this, it was shown that there were specific areas of the brain that responded to the levels of NPY differently.
Growing rates of overweight adults and obesity have prompted the comparison between the uncontrolled intake of food and drugs. It has been smart to follow biological concepts from addiction to explore obsessive food seeking; a model is needed to understand how food and drugs differ in their ability to control behavior. Another article will look at the difference and commonalities in the behavioral responses to food and to drugs of abuse, with the goal to identify and new treatments for drug addiction or obesity.
Sprouting from American obsessive-compulsive eating habits is a number of disorders and conditions: diabetes, high blood pressure, high c...
A current and major growing threat to the worldwide public health is the obesity epidemic. One proposal for certain types of obesity, such as those associated with binge eating disorder is that the individual suffers from a food addiction. A food addiction can be described as compulsive overeating by an individual and their lack of control of their food intake. The purpose of this paper is to describe the neurobiological bases of food addiction and how this relates to the neurobehavioural aspect of overeating and obesity.
On the other hand, one milkshake had a much higher glycemic index from the carbohydrates. After the few hours the blood sugar levels went down leaving the men hungry again. But after they ate, the region of the brain that is related to addictive drugs and behaviors was triggered. In this paper, food addiction is discussed and shown that it is a real problem that further critical analysis and experiments should be conducted on such issue. Unreasonable food consumption and its relation to obesity and binge eating illustrate clinical and public health concerns.
Skinner designed an experiment to test operant conditioning, known as a ‘Skinner box’ (Gross 2005). In the box, animals, such as rats, would be conditioned into certain behaviour. For example, by pressing a lever to receive food (Gross 2005).
It is hypothesized that negative reinforcement is maintaining his overeating behavior. Ricky particularly engages ...
Since we have been learning about nutrition in class, our task was to record a food log. Nutrition requires a well-balanced diet containing nutrient and vitamins like amino acids and fatty acids. Over the past seven days I have been recording and have been looking very carefully at my intake of nutrients, minerals, vitamins, and fats. In our task, the objective was to record the basic foods we ate during the period of seven, but it did not require recording every single detail or our intake of food. Doing this food log was a pain and it was disturbing because I never wrote about what I ate like breakfast, lunch, dinner, or additional meals. I found this food log useful because it helped me learn what I can change in my intake of foods to make my diet healthy and to see what about my diet is affecting me from being healthy because I could affect me in the future.
Americans went from being attached to the fast food culture to depending on it. The result--obesity; a negative effect of the fast food culture. Morgan Spurlock experimented with eating McDonald 's food for breakfast, lunch and dinner; In just five days, he added ten pounds. He thus found out that fast food restaurants are the single greatest contributor to the obesity epidemic in America (Gilbert). “Functional neuroimaging studies further revealed that smell, taste, and appearance of food produce a similar effect as drugs of abuse. Many of the brain changes reported for hedonic eating and obesity are also seen in various forms of addictions” (Liu et al). Fast food restaurants selectively choose certain flavors and effects, to create craving and dependence on their food. “Animal studies have shown that the predisposition to food addiction in offspring, was caused by feeding rat mothers junk food, consisting of fatty, sugary, and salty snacks, during pregnancy and lactation” (Liu et al). Apart from chemical factors such as ingredients like sugar and salt, external cues also lead to craving for food despite satiation. Advertising on television further elicits food cues encouraging even normal weight children and adults to seek out food despite the lack of hunger signals (Liu et