Impact of Lifestyle Habits on Weight Regulation

This document is a report on the impact of lifestyle habits on weight regulation in humans. It discusses how ghrelin and leptin hormones regulate appetite and metabolism, and how lifestyle factors such as smoking and diet can affect weight management. The report also references various studies that support its findings.

Fundamentals of Nutrition

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Nutrition is considered as a science that helps in explaining the relationship between
nutrients and other substances along with their consideration in the maintenance and growth of
an individual. It also associates various other processes as well such as adsorption, catabolism,
synthesis, excretion etc. A 3 day diet recall is considered as a structured plan for including a
sorted and detailed information of all the food items including the beverages. It can help in
analysing the total amount that is being consumed and evaluating the status of the health, which
can further help in understanding and analysing the eating patterns as well as triggers. The report
is about the functioning of two hormones, Ghrelin and leptin. Also, it includes two lifestyle
factors which can help in maintaining an efficient body weight.
Literature Review
Functioning of Ghrelin and leptin
Ghrelin is also considered as the peptide hormone which is being secreted by the Ghrelin
cells that are present in the gastrointestinal tract. The hormone is also referred as the hunger
hormone and its function is to work as a neuropeptide in the CNS (Central nervous system).
Leptin is considered as a hormone for the disbursement of energy. It is being produced by the
adipose cells and its responsibility is to maintain the energy balance for the obstructing hunger. It
is also a hunger hormone. Ghrelin increases the appetite of a person whereas leptin decreases the
appetite of an individual. Explaining the role and functioning of each hormone as following:
Ghrelin
Ghrelin is a hormone which helps in maximizing the appetite of a person which also
plays a major role in maintaining the weight of a person. This hormone is usually produced by
the stomach and the small intestine also has a role of secreting it but lesser than the stomach. It
promotes the fat storage by increasing the hunger of a person. When a person takes food in a
balanced way, this hormone is responsible for maintaining the body weight of a person. The
level of Ghrelin maximises before the intake of food and minimizes after the intake of food. That
is the reason a person before intake of food feels very hungry but after the intake of food, does
not feel like eating any more till some time. According to Casanueva and et.al, (2008), the
ghrelin hormone cooperates with a growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) to enable the
hormone of growth. This feature of interacting with the growth hormone has been observed as
one of the peculiar features. It has another important function that it helps in maintaining the
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ability of the brain in a way that it can adapt in any new environment and be able to learn various
new processes as well. Along with the blood, Ghrelin enters in the hippocampus of the brain and
makes some alterations within the cells and nerves for improving the memory and learning
ability of a person.
Leptin
This hormone is responsible for suppressing the appetite level when a huge amount of fat
is being observed in the body. So, when the fat in a human body increases, the level of leptin
increases as well which results in less hunger in a human body. As per Patton and DeGolier
(2010), Leptin is being secreted by the adipose tissues which maintains the regulation of intake
of food and hunger along with the metabolism. The lack of leptin can affect the metabolism of
the body as well as the body weight. Leptin uses this way for regulating the energy levels in a
human body so that the weight of a person can stay maintained and within control. It is also
termed as the master hormone because it regulates the body weight in such a way that can
actually be termed as a better one. The primary target for this hormone is the brain. Specially, an
area where it mostly focuses is on the hypothalamus. There is a small complexity in this case,
which is that the body of the person is obese but the brain does not know it, so in this situation,
the person does not feel any hunger but the brain is hungry. Too much of leptin also has some
side effects on the human body such as because of the maximized level of leptin, the person may
have to suffer from headache, weight loss, pain in joints, tiredness etc.
Lifestyle factors that can be used to maintain body weight
Lifestyle factors are considered as the improved set of habits which involves the way, a
person lives and how it affects the well being and health of an individual. The lifestyle factors
can be well classified in four components, namely no smoking, regular exercises, maintaining a
healthy diet and maintaining a normal weight. According to Behrens and et.al, (2013) smoking,
eating unhealthy and poor diet, lack of physical exercise can lead to various chronic diseases as
well. So, these factors should be maintained in order to get a healthy and well balanced life style.
Out of all these, two lifestyle factors that are to be considered further in this are eating a healthy
diet and no smoking. As per Siyez (2008) adolescence is that period in which the people can
bring huge contributions to their own health and they can do this by involving various better
habits in their lifestyle such as doing exercises and following a proper and healthy diet.
Maintaining a proper diet is very necessary as the person should include green vegetables, grains,
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fish, dairy and poultry items in their diet so that they can help in getting a proper and balanced
amount of nutrition. According to Richardson and et.al., (2009) along with these food items,
making use of some cooking methods such as baking, grilling and the intake of fat free and lower
in calorie foods is considered as a better option. It is because food which is lesser in calorie and
fats can help in not reducing the extra fat.
There is a small difference between the healthy and the unhealthy fats. The healthy fat
after entering the body of a person gets distributed to various organs of a body whereas the
unhealthy fat after entering the body stuck to one part only and enlarges that portion which
becomes visible as well after a few time. Managing a proper and balanced diet can help in
maintaining a proper and efficient body weight. Eating food that is less in fats and calories can
help in not getting extra fat that can harm the body because obesity is just not about the visibility
of extra fat but it also leads to various diseases that can actually harm the health of an individual.
Another important lifestyle factor that is to be considered is no smoking for maintaining a
healthy body weight.
As per Yan (2013), the people who smoke also impacts the upcoming generation as well.
It is because genes affect as if the mother smokes during the pregnancy, it may result in the
delivery of an unhealthy baby. That is why, usually, in most cases, women quits smoking at the
time of pregnancy so that they can have a healthy baby. In cases where the mother does not quit
smoking even at the time of pregnancy, then the delivered baby can be of underweight and after
that increasing the weight by various means is also a hard process. So, it is better to focus on
these things so that the delivered baby can live without any defects and can be able to live a
happier and healthier life. According to Hans and et.al (2014), habits like smoking, drinking,
lack of physical activity can lead to chronic diseases. In this, the extra weight was considered as
trichotomous exposure whereas smoking has been considered as tetrachotomous exposure.
Controlling these habits like smoking etc. can help in maintaining a well and efficient body
weight.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that ghrelin and leptin are considered as the hunger
hormones in which ghrelin increases the appetite of a person whereas leptin decreases the same.
Both the hormones have their specific functions in maintaining the weight of human body. Also,
the lifestyle factors impacts to a very huge extent. Including a healthy and proper meal in diet
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can help in maintaining a healthy weight. Along with it, excluding all the bad habits such as
smoking and drinking can actually help in regulating the metabolism of the person which will
further help in maintaining a healthy and efficient weight.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Behrens, G. & et.al. (2013). Healthy lifestyle behaviors and decreased risk of mortality in a large
prospective study of U.S. women and men. European Journal of Epidemiolog. 28(5).
361-372. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23441657
SİYEZ, D. (2008). Health-enhancing Behaviors among High School Students in Turkey. The
High School Journa. 92(1). 46-55. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40660787
Richardson, V. & et.al. (2009). Healthy Eating Perceptions of Lower Mississippi Delta Residents
Manuscript. Race, Gender & Class. 16(3/4). 49-58. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41674674
Yan, J. (2013). Prenatal Smoking Cessation and Infant Health: Evidence from Sibling
Births. Southern Economic Journal. 80(2). 299-323. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/23809536
Hans Krueger, & et.al. (2014). The economic benefits of risk factor reduction in Canada:
Tobacco smoking, excess weight and physical inactivity. Canadian Journal of Public
Health / Revue Canadienne De Santé Publique. 105(1). E69-E78. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/canajpublheal.105.1.0e69
Casanueva, F., & et.al. (2008). Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone as an Agonist of the
Ghrelin Receptor GHS-R1a. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
United States of America. 105(51). 20452-20457. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25465845
Patton, J., & DeGolier, T. (2010). Modeling leptin receptor insensitivity by comparing how leptin
or leptin receptor mutations in mice affect body weight, basal metabolism, body
temperature and feeding behaviors. Bios. 81(3/4). 76-83. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25822390
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