Starvation and Anorexia

Question 1

Starvation Recap

Answer 1

• Non-essential functions are downregulated to upregulate brain maintenance.
  
  • Does this by causing Insulin resistance (IR) in these areas so they can’t uptake energy as effectively
  • Evidence for this in that IR doesn’t occur in the brain
• Starvation causes an adaptive depressive phenotype that facilitates energy reallocation

Question 2

Starving in Bacteria

(and the effects of semi starvation in humans)

Answer 2

• When starve, exponential growth stops to a more stationary phase (maintenance of energy)
• Starvation promotes greater resistance to antiobiotics because they are in a maintenance phase

Humans

• Live longer, less/slower cancer
• Core body temperature is reduced
• Immune function is reduced
  
  • Measured through 2 subtypes of T Lymphocytes (CD4+ & CD +8)
• Locomotor activity increases

Question 3

Leptin

Answer 3

• Hormone that regulates food intake and energy expenditure from fat tissue
• Under homeostatic control
• When we restrict food in rats, their leptin levels skyrocket and they become more active

Question 4

Physiological/Behavioural strategies to survive famine

What happens when food is plentiful

Answer 4

• Regulation of energy. Reduce non-essential processes
  
  • Down regulation of reproduction
  • Conserve energy through inactivity
• Tendency to gorge when food is available and increased anti-social behaviours
• No regulation when plentiful. When food is plentiful eating is inhibitted and foraging behaviours increase
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Question 5

Ancel Keys

Answer 5

• The guy who showed that fat/cholesterol increases digenerative heart disease in specific countries
• Many problems with the study and it has been spun so many different ways as we learn more about it.
  
  • Then it was unsaturated fats, omega-3, gluten, etc..

Question 6

Psychological Effects of Starvation

Why Depression in Starvation?

Answer 6

• Fatigue, Apathy, Irritability, Neurological deficits, Anhedonia, preccupied with food and desire to acquire food
• Function: Reallocate energy to maintenance (for example: reduction of sexual activity), and cognitive activity appears to promote foraging

Question 7

Anorexia and Orexia

(symptoms of anorexia)

Answer 7

• Anorexia: Suppressed appetite
  
  • Anorexigen = Factor that suppresses appetite
• Symptoms: Eat little, increased physical activity. 1% of women 14-19
  
  • Traditional treatments are not effective, and a majority relapse in a year.
  • 25% chronic, 50% of recovery in 10 years
  • Mortality: 10.5 times greater than the general population
    
    • % appears low but this is usually young people, anorexics don’t get old
• Orexia/Orexigen: Increased appetite/factor that increases it
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Question 8

Depressive Symtoms in AN

Answer 8

• Depression is most common symptom in AN and most have it
• Depression does not occur before the onset of AN, and is alleviated with the remission of AN
  
  • Depression is not the cause of AN, it’s a symptom of it. And may be a symptom of starvation
  • Many symptoms of starvation are similar to symptoms of AN

Question 9

Mandometer Therapy

Answer 9

• Had a mealtime feedback which told them how many calories they were eating
  
  • Provided them with warmth when they followed the treatment
  • Restricted physical activity but promoted social activity
  • Providing warmth may be to promote maintenance of body heat and reducing physical activity
• 75% rate of remission after a year of treatment with low relapse and no mortality

Question 10

Is AN a mental Disorder?

Answer 10

• Psychotherapy and pharmacology fail to help
• Women athletes are particularly vulnerable (living on the metabolic edge)
  
  • Implies that this is maybe a negative feedback of a starvation process
  • Especially since symptoms are so similar
• Mechanism may be that women eat less when a meal has been skipped, men eat more
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