The Hunger Hormone: A Future Life Saver? Article Review Example

The Hunger Hormone: A Future Life Saver?

The primary focus of Rashid, et al.s’ article is to summarize what is presently known about ghrelin, the “hunger hormone,” and to discuss the physiology and pathophysiology of ghrelin in regards to the regulation of food intake (1).  Rashid et al. begin by explaining that ghrelin is a type of peptide that is secreted primarily from the stomach, but is also found in the duodenum (although it is at a much lower amount).  The connection between ghrelin and food intake is illustrated by reference to an experiment done with lab rats, which Rashid, et al. cover very briefly in saying that “administration of ghrelin to rats induces food intake and reduction of energy expenses” (1).  Specifically speaking on the pathway ghrelin takes to increase appetite and food intake, Rashid, et. al. explains that it stimulates the activity of certain neurons, which stimulates the production of orexin; orexin, in turn, increases appetite.

In addition to the credentials and high standings of each of the nine contributors to the article, “The Biochemistry of Hunger Stimulating Hormone” provides excellent and professional information about the biological pathways and is a very valid article.  Each of the statements made included citations in order to provide support and strength to the points made, and several graphics were used in order to increase the readers’ understandings. Given that this article was published in a very professional and academic journal, Biochemistry & Physiology, it is easy to assume that the audience was meant to consist mostly of well-educated individuals.  That being said, the purpose of the article was to increase the understanding of how the “hunger hormone” works in order to further research and application possibilities.  This information was incredibly useful and certainly holds potential to play a part in developing ways to deal with the increasing levels of obesity in America.

There were several strong points to the article that are worth mentioning, which include the heavy credentials the authors hold, the general academic tone, and the use of graphs in the article.  The authors, Rashid, et al., each hold doctorate degrees in incredibly relevant fields (such as medicine, biotechnology, biochemistry, pharmacology, etc.), which make the information in the article far more reliable than if it had been written by a student or a journalist that is uneducated in the field.  Likely a result of having such highly-educated individual behind the pen is the academic and informative tone throughout the piece, which makes the article and the references sighted all the more valuable; it was clearly written by intelligent people, as if the credentials of the authors were not enough proof of that.  Finally, the use of graphs in addition to basic wording was one of the many strong points within the article, because the graphs did well to summarize what was already said while simultaneously adding additional information to better the reader’s understanding.

There were several weak points to the article as well, including the fact that there was little to no expansion or explanation of Kamegai, et al.’s findings (which were a large part of the article), little to no explanation or hypotheses as to how systems are affected by the “hunger hormone,” even though the final paragraph lists more than six different ways it affects the body, and the generally misleading title. On page 1, Rashid, et al. write that ghrelin “induces food intake and reduction of energy expenses” in rats, but that is the end of the discussion of lab work.  After further research, I found that Kamegai, et al. conducted the experiment in question and found that regular administration of ghrelin “significantly increased food intake and body weight” in rats while failing to “affect plasma insulin, glucose, leptin, or GH concentrations” (2438).   In addition to failing in explanation of Kamegai’s article, Rashid, et al. the final paragraph writes that ghrelin affects “GH release, food intake, energy and glucose homeostasis, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and immune functions, cell proliferation and differentiation, and cognitive behavior” (2); the exact manner of affection is not discussed, and doing so would strengthen the article considerably.  Rather than listing ways ghrelin affects all of those systems and leaving it at that, Rashid, et al. might make the article much stronger by explaining how and hypothesizing as to why these systems are affected.  Finally, while Rashid, et al. promise (from the title) to explain why knowing more about the “hunger hormone” might be beneficial, they more or less explain how ghrelin works and stop there.  Mentions of lab rats and tests are present in the article, but the title is a bit misleading in that the piece is not primarily discussing the benefits of understanding how ghrelin works and affects the body; while they are mentioned, the benefits do not make up nearly as much of the article as basic functions do.  This results in a misleading title, which is certainly a weakness. One question I would like to ask regarding the article is: “What other processes are disrupted when ghrelin concentration within the body is either increased or decreased, and how might that affect the future study of the hormone?”

Naturally, an excellent next step in the research of ghrelin is to determine whether or not the results of ghrelin’s presence can be stopped; in order to help with the obesity problem that plagues America, there would need to be a decrease in ghrelin within the body.  Is there any way that it can be stopped without causing major effects or, another option, are there any prohibitory molecules that might work to stop its actions within the human body?

I believe there is a bright future for ghrelin, based only on what I have read in Rashid, et. al.s’ article.  Because obesity is such a large problem, I believe ghrelin should be researched to see whether it might be the next big weapon against one of the most deadly conditions in the country.

Works Cited

Rashid, Mahjabin, Md. Shariful Islam, M Salahuddin, Md. Sayfullah, Deluwer Hossain, MA Momin, M. Abu Sayed, Jay Prakash Sah, and Sanjay Kumar Shah. “The Biochemistry of Hunger Stimulating Hormone: Why Understanding This Cascade In Hypothalamus Is Beneficial.” Biochemistry and Physiology 4.3 (2015): 1-3. Biochemistry & Physiology: Open Access.  Web. 5 Nov. 2015.

Kamegai, Jun, Hideki Tamura, Takako Shimizu, Shinya Ishii, Hitoshi Sugihara, and Ichiji Wakabayashi. “Hypothalamic Neuropeptide Y and Agouti-Related Protein mRNA Levels and Body Weight in Rats.” Diabetes, 50 (2001): 2438-2443. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.