Why Are You Hungry?

Intake of food is the key to survival, and it is no wonder we have a vast array of physiological checks and balances to control how food is consumed, stored, and used in our body. What is a wonder is how the science of this system is both in it's infancy, and not well understood by many scientists nor taught much in medical curriculum yet. Most physicians, even those who treat weight disturbances have therefore never heard of, and do not know how to use knowledge of the molecules that regulate our weight. The list above is just a few of these, here is a quick guide to some of these factors:

1.  Leptin regulates food intake

2. The pituitary gland is controlled by the hypothalamus and this gland has a molecule, PMOC which works through nerve types called Hypothalamic pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons which regulate energy and glucose metabolism. Leptin appears to work in part through stimulating these as well.

3.  α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH) is another hormone of weight control in the brain. Medically it is an anorexigenic factor: causing us eat less and store less body fat.

4.Another important molecule neuropeptide Y (NPY) is found in the brain and it is an "orexigenic" factor, is associated with promoting adipogenesis: fat generation

5. Peptide Yy, a little discussed molecule that is made in the small intestine and helps control our appetite by affecting the pancreas, and the mobility of the gut.


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