Obesity has become a growing, global issue in today's day and age. While there may be many reasons to blame such as individuals living more sedentary lifestyles, or the availability and preference of food, there are definitely some overlapping, biological factors that can be taken into consideration when combatting this epidemic. Consequently, obesity has become a focal research topic in health care, with Dr. Jennifer Beshel’s research dealing with understanding the neural framework behind obesity.
In Beshel’s lab, house flies were studied by looking at the process relating to how they encode odors when they are in different hunger states. Both satiated and hungry flies were exposed to food odors and non food odors; it was found that neurons that expressed Drosophila neuropeptide F (dNPF) and another neuropeptide called the Y homolog were activated upon exposure. Both of these neuropeptides play a role in determining the relationship between how hungry one is and how attractive a food’s odor may seem to them. One finding of Beshel’s lab was that when neurons that expressed dnPF were inactivated, flies did not find food odor to be attractive and their behavior was not affected. Likewise, if generations of flies were altered genetically to have stronger expressions of dNPF, food odors had stronger effects on their behavior. Furthermore, Beshel’s lab found that hunger has varying levels of effect when it comes to the type of odors that are being presented, where strictly food odors evoked the strongest behavior and non food odors correlated to the weakest.
The Wall Street Journal article: “Weight-Loss Surgery Has Other Benefits: Easing Diabetes and Heart Disease” explores a possible solution to obesity. While Beshel’s approach was neurological, this article discusses the implications of a certain procedure called bariatric surgery, where the stomach is either reduced by rerouting the small intestine to a pouch within the stomach , or where a band is placed over the stomach, reducing how much food can stay inside. While the procedure may seem to focus on the physical aspect of reducing food, the article goes on to talk about the biological implications from which a parallel can be drawn to Beshel’s research. Dr. Aminian first goes on to state that diseases relating to the heart and diabetes seem to be reduced in patients who undergo bariatric surgery. Many patients were on insulin prior to this surgery and afterwards, did not need it. This is due to the finding that this surgery can cause the body to release more gut hormones that can affect the release of insulin according to researchers. While the cause and effect relationship is not very clear, Dr. Aminian who was interviewed in the article speculates that lower parts of the small intestine are reached by food upon removal of part of the stomach, which allows the gut to consequently release more hormones.
How the two articles correlate, I found, was that they both deal with the aspect of being in a satiated state. When flies were satiated in Beshel’s lab, the effect of food odors was not as strong, and their feeding behavior was therefore not affected as strongly. When dNPF expression is increased, food odor seems to be more attractive, leading to more feeding. Insulin, as a hormone, similarly has a role in controlling feeding behavior. Perhaps, there is a possibility that when the hormone insulin is regulated, feeding behaviors may vary in a way where flies do not feed despite finding food odors to be attractive. Afterall, the hormone insulin in a way has a similar way of working, where when it is upregulated in the body, patients do not feel hungry. With patients who have diabetes, their cells are not able to take up sugar, making them feel hungry and less full. Regulating both hormones in the gut and neuropeptides in the brain together may be an effective means in combating obesity and its health implications. Often times, it seems that only one approach is taken, but perhaps it is most effective to combine these two aspects of research. There is still much to be discovered regarding obesity and its associated health risks, but combining these two aspects of research may be the key to finding the most effective solution.
Refrences:
Beshel, J.,Dubnau, J. and Zhong, Y. (2017) A leptin analog locally produced in the brain acts via a conserved neural circuit to modulate obesity-linked behaviors in Drosophila. Cell Metabolism, 25:208-217.
McKay, B. (2019, September 2). Weight-Loss Surgery Has Other Benefits: Easing Diabetes and Heart Disease. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/weight-loss-surgery-has-other-benefits-easing-diabetes-and-heart-disease-11567405800?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=2.
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