NUTR 150: Essentials of Human Nutrition

Week
12 Prep – Hunger Response

Hunger
Watch the following videos: Hunger Hormone (1 min 12 sec), Faulty Hunger Switch (3 min 39
sec), and Minnesota Semi-Starvation Experiment (22 min) and respond to the following 8
questions using complete sentences.

1. From the Hunger Hormone video: What types of food do people usually crave when
there are high levels of ghrelin? Have you experienced these types of craving when you
are hungry?
High calory foods as to compensate the empty stomach. When I returned to Argentina
from my mission I had to adapt to the local diet, which generally excludes breakfast. This
made me want to eat hamburgers at 10 in the morning.

2. From the Faulty Hunger Switch video: Why was Sven always hungry after his brain
surgery?
Because his hypothalamus was damaged during a brain surgery. This part of the brain
controls eating behaviors.

3. From the Minnesota Semi-Starvation Experiment video: What were the psychological
effects of semi-starvation on the men participating in the study? (Describe at least 4 of
the psychological effects.) Have you seen these types of responses when people go on
very-low-calorie diets?
Lack of sexual interest, reduce will to solve problems a concentrate even in a movie, lack
of desire to interact with other people and difficulty to express feelings properly. When
one of my best friends started keto, she became highly emotional and aggressive from
basically any inconvenience or misunderstanding.

4. From the Minnesota Semi-Starvation Experiment video: What happened to the eating
behaviors of the participant who "cheated and had ice cream? Have you seen this type of
response when a person has been dieting and “cheated” on their diet?
He was not able to stop eating ice-cream. My friend in the same way, she has allowed
herself to eat sweets on Fridays but when this day arrives, she eats two ice creams and
makes brownies. It is extremely excessive and uncontrolled.

5. From the Minnesota Semi-Starvation Experiment video: What happened during the night
after the participants got a "relief" meal which was high in calories and protein? Describe
how this relates to the protein function of maintaining fluid balance in the body.
They peed during night to get rid of the excess of water in the edemas in their bodies. The
return of protein means that more amino groups will makes kidneys work to get rid of it
and the albumin (a protein) will be more present in their body to helps them to keep the
water within the cells and not in the tissues. So, the body after eating will try to
recompensate this excess.
 NUTR 150: Essentials of Human Nutrition

6. From the Minnesota Semi-Starvation Experiment video: What was the impact of adding
in extra vitamins and protein during the refeeding phase of the experiment? What did the
researchers find was needed for the men to regain weight?
The impact was not relevant, so they decided that supplements were not necessary.
Because they were not able to regain weight normally, they concluded that enough food
is necessary to allow tissues destroyed during starvation to be rebuilt. 4000 calories were
appropriate rather than a normal calory diet for some months.

7. From the Minnesota Semi-Starvation Experiment video: What was the impact of the
semi-starvation on the level of hunger the men experiences after the experiment?
They were constantly hungry and eager to eat. They got fat by nature.

8. What was the most significant/surprising thing you learned from these videos?
How the body adapts to basic needs. Here human physiology and psychology meet to
prioritize energy expenditure and cognitive functions related to meeting basic needs. It
sounds like instinct, but it is only impressive how innately this occurs.