PSY 3110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Basal Metabolic Rate, Calorie Restriction, Leptin
19 Sep 2016
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Ch. 14 Lecture Notes
Role of Hormones and Neurotransmitters in Weight Control:
• Many dozens of hormones and neurotransmitters involved in appetite and weight
regulation.
• Leptin increases fat catabolism in liver and skeletal muscle.
o Leptin acts on regions of the hypothalamus to suppress appetite.
o Food intake in excess of caloric needs.
o Adipocytes synthesize fat and secret leptin into the blood stream.
• Caloric restriction (by 30%) might increase life span by 30-50% and reduces morbidity of
aging-related diseases.
o These effects have been observed in many animal species, including worms,
insets, rodents and maybe primates.
Understanding Weight Problems:
• Calories
o The measure of the amount of energy that can derived from food.
o Influenced by gender, age, body frame size, weight, percentage of body fat to
basal metabolic rate.
• Basal Metabolic Rate
o The number of calories needed to sustain your body at rest.
• Remember, regardless of whether you consume carbs, protein or fat, if you take in more
calories than your body requires, you body with try to store it as fat in existing fat cells.
The Global Epidemic:
• The #1 public health problem of the 21st century.
• Two thirds of adult Americans are overweight.
• 1/10 preschoolers and 1/5 grad schoolers are seriously overweight.
• 1 in 6 children are overweight.
• Costs us $120 billion per year in medical costs.
General controls of body weight
• Experimental overeating
o It is difficult for most people to gain a great deal of weight in a short period of
time.
o It appears that biological contrls tend to limit both degree of weight logg and
weight gain in most people
▪ Food becomes unpleasant, aversive.
▪ Mood disturbance with overeating
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