Talk:Stress and appetite

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Revision as of 10:33, 5 October 2010 by imported>Nancy Sabatier
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  1. Christina Lang 13:17, 28 September 2010 (UTC)
  2. Cyrus Dailami 12:42, 28 September 2010 (UTC)
  3. James Pattinson 13:08, 28 September 2010 (UTC)
  4. Emelie Gustafson 13:16, 28 September 2010 (UTC)
  5. Holly Clark 13:17, 28 September 2010 (UTC)
  6. Gillian McNeill 13:17, 28 September 2010 (UTC)
  7. Thomas C Horne 13:23, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Testing! We are far too many on this topic. Max. 4. During the class last week it was decided that Holly, Gillian, Christina and I (Emelie) were doing this topic since we signed up to it. Just wondering what's going on, and how we are going to adress this.

I think the course organiser agreed that more than one group could carry out the same talk, is there any way we could split the talk? or maybe he wouldn't mind if two groups covered the same talk.

The problem is that then the same topics will be covered. But if the course organise is okay with it, then I suppose it would be okay. But I doubt that there will be 7 different topics under this subject which will be big enough to write enough on. So they would end up pretty similar.Emelie Gustafson 13:36, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

This is potentially a very large topic; it will include peripheral actions of glucocorticoids, the role of the PVN as a target for appetite regulating circuits and as a controller of the HPA axis and the sympathetic nervous system, sympathetic regulation, "comfort" eating, effects of chronic severe stress (including cachexia), and should touch on POMC deficiency and clinical conditions (Cushings etc).
Stress has a bidirectional effect on appetite; mild intermittent stress generally stimulates appetite but chronic severe stress can lead to loss of appetite and severe weight loss. One natural separation might be to look separately at the mechanisms by which stress can lead to weight gain and mechanisms by which stress can lead to weight loss. One subtopic might be the actions of glucocorticoids and another the neural circuitry of interactions between the PVN and appetite regulating centres. Gareth Leng 09:50, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Cyrus, you are registered both in Genetics of Obesity, and Stress and Appetite, please choose only one of these topics. Thanks. Nancy Sabatier 09:54, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

How are we feeling about the separation of the topic? In light of some research I think ti might be easier to keep it as on topic but with 7 subheadings, as to avoid significant overlap. Opinions? I have thought of some rough subheading suggestions, none of which are necessarily great, but I would love some input.

- Neural mechanisms of stress, neural mechanisms of appetite--> How they are interconnected.

-Chronic stress (habitual stress?), decrease in appetite?--Illness (Cushings?), wasitng (cancer?)--Weight gain in the long term? Abdominal fat and resulting morbidity?

- Acure stress (Novel stressors?)--Increase in appetite? Specific appetite for food high in calories?

- Psychology behind the link between stress and eating--Habit formation, learning and memory as induced by GCs

- Physiology behind increased calorie consumption and stress--how increases in available fat decreases the activity of the HPA axis?

- Comfort eating--male and female differences? Why there are differences? Consequences of comfprt eating and how it links to the above topics.

These are just rough suggestions. We could then each have a sub-heading and communicate through here what we intend on writing, thus avoiding overlap. Please let me know what you guys think.Emelie Gustafson 11:12, 4 October 2010 (UTC)


Emelie, I think that splitting the topic into seven subtopics is the best idea! We could each concentrate on a specific aspect, and then come together to edit them and write a short conclusion.

I agree with the subheadings you have suggested, although I think we could also include a general introduction to the stress response and the HPA axis, as having a general understanding of these topics would be most helpful to any non-scientific readers.

Also, in the comfort eating section, I think it would be helpful to talk about why people comfort eat, ie, that high sugar/fat foods play a part in inhibiting the stress response and promoting a feeling of well-being (and the link to serotonin production. The following article is a good starting point for this topic; http://www.pnas.org/content/100/20/11696.full Holly Clark