Species differ in their eating strategies.

As a rule, predators have large digestive systems capable of handling

infrequent but huge meals. A small bird, at the other extreme, eats only what
it needs at the moment (e.g. chickadee)
As a rule, people neither limit their diet as strictly as small birds do nor stuff
themselves nonstop like bears. Human eating is noteworthy in that we have
a relatively small digestive system for an animal of our size.
 ection
sel
and food
n
digestio
 DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
the function is to break food into smaller
molecules that the cells can use.

PROCESS OF DIGESTION
Digestion begins in the mouth, where
enzymes in the saliva break down
carbohydrates.
Amylase = enzyme that breaks down
carbohydrates, made in mouth and
pancreas.
Swallowed food travels down the
esophagus to the stomach, where it mixes
with hydrochloric acid and enzymes that
digest proteins.
Protease = enzyme that breaks down
proteins, made in the pancreas.

The stomach stores food for a time, and

then a round sphincter muscle, called the
pyloric sphincter, opens at the end of the
stomach to release food to the small
intestine.
The small intestine has enzymes that
digest proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. It
also absorbs digested materials into the
blood, which carries those chemicals to
body cells that either use them or store
them for later use.

The large intestine absorbs water and

minerals and lubricates the remaining
materials to excrete them.
 ON
TI

PR
MP
U

OD
NS
CO

UC
OF DAIRY

TS
Newborn mammals survive at first on mother’s milk.
Reasons for stopping nursing milk:
the milk supply declines
the mother pushes them away
they begin to eat other foods
Lactase = is the enzyme responsible for the digestion of the milk sugar
called lactose.
Weaning phase - the point at which the typical mammal becomes
lactose intolerant and experiences digestive upset (gas, bloating,
and/or diarrhea) upon the consumption of milk.
Adult mammals can drink a little milk, but consuming too much causes
stomach cramps, gas, and diarrhea (Ingram, Mulcare, Itan, Thomas, &
Swallow, 2009; Rozin & Pelchat, 1988).
Humans are a partial exception to this rule. Many adults have enough
lactase levels to consume milk and other dairy products throughout life.
However, the prevalence of the necessary genes varies.
Nearly all the adults in China and surrounding countries are unable
to metabolize lactose.
Lactose intolerant = People who can consume a little milk, and
larger amounts of cheese and yogurt, which are easier to digest,
but they generally learn to limit their intake.
The genetic ability to metabolize lactose in adulthood is common in
societies with a long history of domesticated cattle.
Africa
Europeans

Figure 1.
Percentage of
adults that are
lactose intolerant
Sugar on children’s hyperactivity
Studies of this type have found
no significant effect of sugar on
children’s activity level, play
behaviors, or school
performance (Ells et al., 2008;
Milich & Pelham, 1986).
Misconception = eating turkey causes
sleepiness, supposedly because
eating turkey increases the supply of
tryptophan, which enables the brain to
make serotonin and melatonin. It is
true that tryptophan helps the brain
produce melatonin, which aids
sleepiness.
The most reliable way to increase tryptophan
in the brain is to eat a diet high in
carbohydrates.
When you eat carbohydrates, your body reacts
by increasing the secretion of insulin, which
moves sugars into storage and also moves
phenylalanine into storage (in liver cells and
elsewhere). By reducing the competition from
phenylalanine, this process makes it easier for
tryptophan to reach the brain, inducing
sleepiness (Silber & Schmitt, 2010).
FISH IS A BRAIN FOOD!
Many fish, especially salmon,
contain oils that support brain
functioning.
 Eating is far too important to be entrausted to just one mechanism.
Your brain gets messages from your mouth, stomach, intestines, fat cells, and elsewhere to
regulate your eating

Short term regulation of food intake

signals from the GI tract and the liver. Afferent signals travel in vagal nerve fibers
from stretch receptors.

Long term regulation of food intake

depends on the availability of thyroid hormones in the brain.

 Chewing gum from about 4500 B.C.

Could you become satiated without tasting

your food?
 everything we swallow
leaks out of a tube connected to the
esophagus or stomach.
Sham-feeding living things eat and swallow
almost continually
without becoming satiated

In short,taste

contributes to satiety,

but it is not sufficient.

 The main signal to end a meal is distension of the stomach.
The importance of stomach distension explains why sham
feeding does not satisfy hunger, and why eating satisfies your
hunger before the nutrition reaches any of the cells that
need
it.

Vagus Nerve (cranial nerve x)

conveys information to the brain about the stretching of the stomach walls
Duodenum
the part of the small intestines adjoining the stomach, and a major site
for absorbing nutrients.

Distension of the duodenum releases the hormone Cholecystokinin-

which limits meal size in two days.
 Digestion converts much of a meal into glucose, an important source of energy
throughout the body and nearly the only fuel of the brain

two pancreatic hormones (insulin and glucagon) regulate the flow of the
glucose into cells.

after meal the pancreas release of insulin, which enables glucose to enter the cells

after a meal, the blood glucose level falls, insulin levels drop, glucose enters the cells more slowly,
and hunger increases The pancreas increases release of glucagon, stimulating the liver to convert
some of its stored glycogen back to glucose.
 leptin
Taste, stomach distension, duodenum distension, and insulin help regulate the onset and offset
of a meal. However, we cannot expect those mechanisms to be completely accurate

unknown hormone that they named “LEPTIN” from the Greek word “leptos”, meaning ”slender”.

unlike insulin, which is so evolutionarily ancient that we find it throughout the animal kingdom, leptin is
limited to vertebrates.

Evolution has apparently prepared us to avoid starvation more

vigorously than we avoid eating too much.
BRAIN
MECHANISMS
 How does your brain decide when
you should eat and how much?
• Hungers depends on the contents of your stomach and intentions, the availability of glucose to the
cells, and your body's fat supplies, as well as your health and body temperature.
Arcuate Nucleus — the hypothalamus has one set of neurons sensitive to
hunger signals and a second set sensitive to satiety signals.
Hunger sensitive cells receive input from the taste pathway, and you have surely
noticed that good-tasting food stimulates your hunger.
Another input to the hunger-sensitive cells comes from axons releasing the
neurotransmitter ghrelim (GHRELL-in).

The stomach releases ghrelin

during a period of food deprivation,
where it triggers stomach
contractions.
Axons form the satiety-sensitive cells of the arcuate nucleus deliver an excitatory message
to the paraventricular nucleus, releasing the neurotransmitter x- melanocyte stimulating
hormones (xMSH), which is a type of chemical called a melanocortin

Melanocortin receptors in the paraventricular nucleus are important for limiting

food intake, and defenciences of this receptor lead to overeating.

- Neuropeptide Y (NPY)
- Agouti-related peptide (AgRP)
 controls insulin secretion, alters taste
responsiveness, and facilitates feeding in other

damage in this area refuses food and water,

averting its head as if the food were
distasteful

In contrast, stimulation of the lateral

hypothalamus increases the drive to eat.
Ways in which the LATERAL HYPOTHALAMUS promotes eating:
 MEDIAL AREAS OF THE
HYPOTHALAMUS
The ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus
(VMN, VMH or ventromedial hypothalamus) is a nucleus Output from the ventromedial hypothalamus
of the hypothalamus that is involved in terminating (VMH) inhibits feeding, and therefore damage
hunger, fear, thermoregulation, and sexual activity to this nucleus leads to overeating and weight
Those with damage in the ventromedial area eat normal-sized gain.
meals, but they eat more frequently

One reason is that they have

increased stomach motility and
secretions, and their stomach
empties faster than normal. The
faster the stomach empties, the
sooner the animal is ready for its
next meal.
 E AT IN G
IS OR ER S
D
 Eating Disorder:

A mental health condition characterized by unhealthy eating habits and a preoccupation

with body weight and shape.
 GE N ET IC
D Y W EIG H
BO T
 Syndromal Obesity:

results when a gene cause a medical problem that includes obesity

 Monogenic Obesity:

occurs when a single gene leads to obesity without other physical or mental
abnormalities.
 Polygenic Obesity:

relates to many genes, each of which slightly increases the probability of obesity
 igh t lo ss
w e
ch niq ue
te s
 HEALTHY
TIPS
Eat a little less than usual
Promote good health by getting good nutrition and physical exercise
Reduce/eliminate the intake of softdrinks.
 Bulimia Nervosa:

is characterized by alternation between undereating and overeating. It has been

compared to addictive behaviors.
 Anorexia Nervosa:

is characterized by refusal to eat enough to maintain a healthy weight

MULTIPLE CONTROLS OF HUNGER

1. The brain areas that control eating monitor taste, blood glucose,
stomach distension, duodenal contents, body weight, fat cells,
hormones, social influences, and more.

2. The system is so complex, it can produce errors in many ways. However,

the complexity of the system also provides a kind of security: If one part of the
system makes a mistake, another part can counteract it.

3. Perhaps we should be more impressed by how many people eat more or

less appropriately.

4. the regulation of eating succeeds not in spite of its complexity but because
of it.
 summary
1. The ability to digest a food is one major determinant
of preference for that food. For example, people who
cannot digest lactose generally do not like to eat dairy
products.
2. Widespread beliefs that sugar causes hyperactivity and that
turkey causes sleepiness are unfounded. However, research does
support the idea that eating fish is good for brain functioning.
3. People and animals eat partly for the sake of taste. How-
ever, a sham-feeding animal, which tastes its foods but
does not absorb them, eats far more than normal. Taste is
not sufficient to satisfy hunger.
4. In addition to taste, other factors controlling hunger include
distension of the stomach and intestines, secretion of CCK by the
duodenum, and the availability of
glucose and other nutrients to the cells.
5. Appetite depends partly on the availability of glucose
and other nutrients to the cells. The hormone insulin
increases the entry of glucose to the cells, including cells
that store nutrients for future use. Glucagon mobilizes
stored fuel and converts it to glucose in the blood. Thus,
the combined influence of insulin and glucagon deter-
mines how much glucose is available at any time.
6. Fat cells produce a peptide called leptin, which provides
the brain with a signal about weight loss or gain and
therefore corrects day-to-day errors in the amount of feeding. Low levels
of leptin increase hunger more effectively
than high levels decrease it.
7. The arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus receives signals of
both hunger and satiety. Good-tasting foods and the transmitter ghrelin
stimulate neurons that promote hunger.
Glucose, insulin, leptin, and CCK stimulate neurons that
promote satiety.
8. Axons from the two kinds of neurons in the arcuate nucleus send
competing messages to the paraventricular nucleus, releasing
neuropeptides that are specific to the feeding system. Cells in the
paraventricular nucleus inhibit the lateral nucleus of the hypothalamus.
Hunger signals increase feeding by decreasing the inhibition from the
paraventricular
nucleus.
9. The lateral nucleus of the hypothalamus facilitates feeding by axons
that enhance taste responses elsewhere in
the brain and increase the release of insulin and digestive juices.
13. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by alternation between
undereating and overeating. It has been compared to
addictive behaviors.
14. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by refusal to eat
enough to maintain a healthy weight. Antidepressant
treatments are seldom effective. The increased physical
activity associated with anorexia may be motivated by
temperature regulation.

10. The ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus and

the axons passing by it influence eating by regulating stomach emptying
time and insulin secretion.
Animals with damage in this area eat more frequently
than normal because they store much of each meal as
fat and then fail to mobilize their stored fats for current use.

11. Obesity is partly under genetic control. Syndromal

obesity occurs if a gene leads to both obesity and other
medical problems. Monogenic obesity results from a
single gene that does not impair other body functions.
Common obesity is influenced by many genes, as well as
environmental factors.
 ha
T un k
Y O Bauzon, Raniella
Español, Edrian
Soriano, Marc Vincent
Soriano, Sandara
Ticman, Jearly Pearl
Valcoba, Christian Dave
QUIZ TIME
 MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. To eat and swallow almost 2. It releases the hormone
continually without becoming cholecystokinin.
satiated? A. Duodenum
A.Duodenum B. Stomach
B. Long-term regulation of food intake C. Intestines
C. Insulin D. Vagus nerve
D. sham-feeding
3. It is another input to the hunger-sensitive cells that comes from axons
releasing the ______.
A. Hunter x Hunter
B. Neurotransmitter ghrelin (GRELL–in)
C. Jujutsu Kaisen
D. Iron Man my idol, namatay sa endgame. :<

4. It controls insulin secretion, alters taste responsiveness, and facilitates

feeding in others.
A. Ventromedial Hypothalamus (VMH)
B. Spy x Family
C. Arcuate Nucleus
D. Lateral Hypothalamus
5. Occurs when a single gene leads to obesity without other physical or mental
abnormalities.
A. Syndromal Obesity
B. Monogenic Obesity
C. Polygenic Obesity
D. Basta Obesity

6. Relates to many genes, each of which slightly increases the probability of

obesity.
A. Syndromal Obesity
B. Monogenic Obesity
C. Polygenic Obesity
D. Basta Obesity
7. The function of this system is to break food into smaller molecules that the
cells can use.
A. Circulatory System
B. Reproductive System
C. Digestive System
D. Solar System

8. ___________: breaks down proteins ; ____________: breaks down lactose

A. amylase, protease
B. protease, amylase
C. lactase, amylase
D. protease, lactase
9. The _______ areas that control eating monitor taste, blood glucose, stomach
distension, duodenal contents, body weight, fat cells, hormones, social
influences, and more.
A. Heart
B. Lungs
C. Brain
D. Kidneys

10. Today’s topic is all about _________.

A. Breathing
B. Thirst
C. Temperature
D. Hunger