Obesity and Biology

Obesity and Biology Obesity isn’t classified as an eating problem anymore. It is more than that a person’s biology plays a big roll. Cells and hormones play a big roll on how big you are and how your body regulates energy. Food equals energy and the body stores that energy in fat cells and uses the energy as needed. The metabolism breaks down that food and uses the energy generated from that food for everyday activities such as walking, talking, thinking. The faster ones metabolism is the more efficient they are at breaking down food and using the energy.

The slower the metabolism the more energy gets stored and gets turned into fat cells and not used. The hormone leptin, which is produced in fat cells, sends signals to the brain telling it that its levels are dropping which means the cells are reducing. When this occurs the brain processes that information as starvation and sends signals back to slow down the metabolism and store as much energy as possible. There are people who eat less than other but still gain weight. That’s a biological problem. There are areas in the brain research has found that if damaged can lead to obesity.

One such area is the ventromedial hypothalamus and the surrounding axons. If this area in the brain is damaged at then this can lead to overeating and more storing of fat cells. Research conducted on rats at the University of Nebraska looked at this area in the brain and how it affects food intake and body weight. With damage to that area the rat nearly tripled in size in the cores of about sixty days. Food intake does not always correspond to body weight. It is possible to excessively eat and not gain weight. It just matters how active one is and how efficient the metabolism is.

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There are other areas in the brain located in the prefrontal cortex that also can affect body weight. Those areas are responsible for food-seeking behaviors. If one is always hooked on seeking high fat food such as burgers and high sugar drinks such as coke then that can lead to an overweight problem. The problem with sugared drinks such as coke is that it is high in fructose sugar and that particular sugar does not raise insulin or leptin as other sugars do. So you drink more of the soda, which equates to more calories without satiety. The brain is not the only factor in weight another factor can be genetics.

Your gene makeup can be responsible for how much energy you store, and that’s all been passed down to you from your ancestors. If your ancestors were only getting by in life by eating very little as about 1000 calories a day and storing a lot of energy in fat cells and using that energy efficiently then that means you should not eat foods that are high in fat. The reason is your genetic makeup structures your body to store more energy from food. Those whose body is structured like this that eat a normal diet of about 2500 calories a day will gain weight.

That is due to the fact that the genes were from the ancestors thought a normal diet of about 1000 calories was good enough to get them by. In America most foods you find these days have a lot of fat in them. Good tasting unhealthy food is cheaper than healthy food. A burger is way cheaper than a salad these days. The American life style requires people to be able to get food quickly. No one likes waiting anymore and barely anyone cooks anymore. Home kitchens are beginning to shrink as Americans waist size is beginning to grow. Fast food restaurants blanket almost every business street.

Americans eating lifestyle is one of the biggest factors in their weight. Obese people who lose weight end up gaining it right back because the brain thinks the body is starving because there are not enough fat cells that it was normally used to. A person that loses weight cannot eat the same amount as a person who is naturally at that weight. They have to eat about 500 calories less in order to maintain their new weight. Its not only a temporary diet they have to be on, but a lifetime diet if they want to keep the weight off and they have to exercise everyday.

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