Contents:
- Medical Video: Appetite, Obesity, and the Brain
- What is obesity?
- Hypothalamic gland disorders and their effects on obesity
- Hypothalamic obesity can be triggered by brain tumors
- Symptoms and effects of obesity
- How do you deal with hypothalamic obesity?
Medical Video: Appetite, Obesity, and the Brain
During this time, you might think that obesity or body obesity is definitely caused by eating mostly. In fact, it turns out obesity can also be caused by a disruption in brain function. How can? See the information below.
What is obesity?
Obesity is a condition in which the body stores excess fat at an unhealthy level. Storage of body fat is generally regulated by the process of food metabolism and depends on the calorie and energy intake released from the food.
Too much calorie intake accompanied by very little energy produced by the body through calories can eventually make you obese.
In addition, there are other physiological processes that are regulated by the brain in storing food reserves. One of the gland disorders in the brain, the hypothalamus, can cause changes in metabolism and cause a person to be obese.
Hypothalamic gland disorders and their effects on obesity
The hypothalamus is a small part of the brain that acts to connect the nervous system to the endocrine system, where the pituitary gland acts as an intermediary between the two. The hypothalamus plays a role in regulating the production of pitutari hormones that play a role in regulating body temperature, sleep cycles, and hunger and thirst.
The hypothalamus also plays a role in converting inactive thyroid hormones - troxine to triiodothyronine so that it directly plays a role in helping the use of thyroid hormones.
If there is damage to the brain, the part of the hypothalamus will interfere with various bodily functions. Thyroid hormone dysfunction and disturbances in the pituitary gland trigger fat buildup. As a result, weight will rise easily.
These disorders cause metabolic disorders characterized by imbalances in body temperature, excessive production of hungry hormones (leptin) and insulin, and improper calorie burning processes. The brain also receives a signal that the body always feels hungry so that the metabolic process of nutrients prioritizes storing food reserves rather than producing energy by burning calories.
Hypothalamic obesity can be triggered by brain tumors
Although fairly rare, hypothalamic obesity can occur as a complication of a craniopharyngioma brain tumor (CP). This condition is a tumor of a congenital condition and appears when the baby's embryo develops. CP tumors include benign tumors, but the growth of these tumors will disrupt the hypothalamus and pitutari glands.
Complications of CP and obesity can also increase seriously when the body cannot store fat normally that is below the surface of the skin and starts storing fat around the muscles, liver (liver) and also organs around the abdomen.
Obesity conditions and CP are complex. Severity of obesity symptoms vary, depending on how large the tumor and the area of the brain that is damaged. However, the regulation of metabolism and energy factors also greatly influence the occurrence of obesity. Handling CP by surgery also has the risk of hypothalamic damage to the brain so that hypothalamic obesity can still occur or even become more serious.
Symptoms and effects of obesity
Unbalanced metabolic and hormonal disorders make weight gain very difficult to prevent and overcome in cases of hypothalamic obesity. Symptoms of excessive hunger and rapid weight gain can occur when there is a metabolic dysfunction, in addition the sufferer may also experience some of the symptoms below.
- Very tired
- The body temperature rises and falls, for example feeling very hot or cold when there is no drastic temperature change
- Having sleep disorders and changes in sleep patterns
- Feel pain in certain parts of the body
- Having a disorder mood
- Decreased sexual arousal
Obese people also have a risk of developing heart and blood vessel disease (cardiovascular). This is because excess fat stacks can increase blood pressure. If it continues to occur, the function of the heart and blood vessels will also be disrupted.
How do you deal with hypothalamic obesity?
One option with high success in overcoming hypothalamic obesity is by doing surgery gastric bypass and tumor treatment if you have a CP tumor.
Method gastric bypass can regulate the production of the hormone insulin and control hunger. However, this method of treatment does not always work for everyone. This operation is also generally used as a last resort when lifestyle changes such as exercise every day, regulating diet, hormone therapy, and hunger-suppressing drugs do not work.
