1. Identify the basic analytical or problem variable.

Derive or explore possible behavior patterns

(more than one) of this variable. Research as much as possible. Draw the reference modes.

Problem Variable: Ghrelin, Dopamine, Serotonin, Insulin, Leptin

Hunger is primarily controlled by two hormones: ghrelin and leptin. When your
stomach is empty it releases ghrelin which makes you feel hungry. When you start to eat,
your stomach stretches out. As it stretches it stops releasing ghrelin. As your food is
digested, insulin is released into your bloodstream. Insulin is essential to getting energy
to your body. When insulin starts delivering extra energy to fat cells, the day cells start
releasing leptin which makes you feel full. The more fat cells you have, the more leptin
is released. The more leptin in your system the more likely you are to be resistant to its
effects.

2. Identify the process that governs this variable. Identify the levels and find all possible rates of
these levels. Discuss and justify this process.

When your stomach is empty, your gut secretes ghrelin, a hormone that acts on your
hypothalamus, vagus nerve and gut to make you hungry. Ghrelin
increases dopamine activity, which makes you actively seek rewards. When you smell
food, you secrete more dopamine, motivating you even more. As you eat and your gut
stretches, your gut lining stops secreting ghrelin and starts
secreting serotonin. Serotonin makes you feel good and suppresses dopamine
production, so you stop feeling motivated to eat.

The hypothalamus produces hormones that “stop and start the production of other
hormones throughout the body.” It is constantly receiving and sending signals throughout
the body and brain. Hypothalamus receives input from all parts of the nervous system
such as: stress, microbes, light, odors, impulses from the reproductive tract, and other
hormonal signals that regulate hunger and satiation.
3. Identify other processes and their rates. Discuss and justify this process.
 Chronic Stress

Anxiety/
Depression - +
+ - Gherlin

+
Reward
Response

+ + Alchohol /
+ - Drugs
Obesity
Emotional
Eating

4. Develop the feedback loops and complete the stock flow diagram.
+
Leptin Insulin

Eating
Carbohydrates
+

+
-
Smell Food Eating
+
+

+Serotonin
+
Gherlin

+ -
Dopamine

Empty
Stomach
Gut Brain
 5. Simulate and discuss the base run and explain the graphs.

How does the body control hunger and too much excessive eating? How effective is its
control mechanism?
That's the work of three hormones in your body that control hunger — insulin,
ghrelin and leptin. They are important because the way these balance can impact your
weight and health. Insulin is made in the pancreas and allows cells to take sugar or
glucose from the blood stream to use as energy.
Insulin is made in the pancreas and allows cells to take sugar or glucose from the
blood stream to use as energy. When the insulin does not respond normally — allowing
sugars to enter the cells of the body — you can experience insulin resistant hunger.
Rather than being physically hungry, you might experience it as a “gnawing” desire to eat.
This first thing to know is that ghrelin makes you feel hungry and leptin causes you to feel
full. An easy way to distinguish between the two is that ghrelin grows your appetite
and leptin lowers it.

How do you explain malnutrition using this model?

Malnutrition is a condition that results from eating a diet in which one or more
nutrients are either not enough or are too much such that the diet causes health problems.
It may involve calories, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins or minerals. It is a state in which
a deficiency of energy, protein and/or other nutrients causes measurable adverse effects
on tissue/body form, composition, function or clinical outcome. Malnutrition results in a
wide variety of metabolic responses, depending on circumstances, from reactions to pure
deprivation of nutrients to include the added stress of injury and sepsis. Important
differences of response exist between adults and children. Weight loss with changes in
carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism are well documented. Disturbances of fluid and
electrolyte balance are newer areas of interest as are changes in requirements for
micronutrients such as trace metals. Many of these metabolic changes are under
hormonal control.
 College of Engineering

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Course of SYSDYN2

Alvaro Laureano