The coupling of hormonal responses to nutrient availability is fundamental
for metabolic control(1). Metabolism is the important step in which
living systems balance the energy available and the energy demanded, on such a
way that the organism will not find itself in a situation of lacking energy
after an abundance(1). Independent of scientific advances, our body
works, it is a miracle of control system in practice. Glucose is constantly
converted to glycogen, "the battery of living systems", constantly it
is brought back to the bloodstream.
Controversy underscores the fact that,
despite the impressive progress made over the past few decades in unraveling
many of the molecular pathways involved in energy regulation, we still have a
rather murky understanding of how all the pieces fit together to function as an
integrated system(3). For instance, recently a new hormone long ago
guessed was finally identified, called neuromedin U(1), firstly
screened off in fruit fly, called limostatin. Basically this hormone works when
we are fasting, it avoids glucose to be stored in situations in which it
supposes to be available.
A literature analysis shows a considerable
about of hormones and molecules involved in the complex process of eating and
managing energy. Food is equal energy, energy is equal work. We do work from
simples tasks such as sleeping to more complex ones and elaborated tasks such
as playing out favorite sport game.
References
1. Alfa RW, Park S, Skelly KR, Poffenberger G, Jain N, Gu X, Kockel L,
Wang J, Liu Y, Powers AC, Kim SK. Suppression of insulin production and
secretion by a decretin hormone. Cell Metab. 2015 Feb 3;21(2):323-33. doi:
10.1016/j.cmet.2015.01.006.
2. K. N. Frayn. Metabolic Regulation: A Human Perspective. Third
Edition. Wiley-blackwell. 2010.
3. J. Tam, Dai Fukumura, and Rakesh K. Jain. A mathematical model of
murine metabolic regulation by leptin: energy balance and defense of a stable
body weight. Cell Metab. 2009 January 7; 9(1): 52–63.
doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2008.11.005.
4. Pasquale Palumbo, Susanne Ditlevsen, Alessandro Bertuzzi, Andrea De
Gaetano, Mathematical modeling of the glucose–insulin system: A review,
Mathematical Biosciences 244 (2013) 69–81.
