How can your brain avoid obesity?

The nerve centers for the control of eating behavior are found in the brain, in the hypothalamus region, so the obesity it can be generated from mutations that produce alterations in a large number of molecular signaling pathways within it.

The foregoing indicates that the eating behavior it is regulated by a process that involves a large number of interactions, which include both neuronal, hormonal and neuropeptide pathways.

In an interview with GetQoralHealth , the researcher of Institute of Neurobiology of the UNAM Campus Juriquilla, Mauricio Díaz , explains how these signals of hunger and satiety are produced from these brain regions:

The main hypothalamic areas that participate in the regulation of the eating behavior are:
 

1. The ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN), whose injury produces voracity and obesity .
2. The lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) , whose injury produces decrease in intake and anorexia.
3. The paraventricular nucleus , which receives afferent information from other brain nuclei related to the intake.
4. The arcuate nucleus whose neurons they produce peptides that regulate the intake, such as the neuropeptide Y / AGRP and POMC / CART.

The neurons of these nuclei receive vagal nerve inputs that carry satiety stimuli, according to the study Physiology of food intake, of Selva Rivas, Mariana Angoa and Stefan Mihailescu, from the Department of Physiology of the Faculty of Medicine, UNAM.

The signals that provide short-term information about hunger and satiety include: glucagon-like peptides (GLPs), cholecystokinin, ghrelin and peptide YY (PYY).

Therefore, they are currently investigating how to modify all these signals, from different perspectives, that allow to control the eating behavior in order to fight obesity.

However, until now, there is no specific-or secure-key that allows activating from the same brain some mechanism that reverses at all or blocks these processes, so the best strategy to combat it remain the healthy habits of life and food.


Video Medicine: Child Obesity : How to Prevent Obesity in Children (March 2024).