Obesity: Homeostasis And Setting Point Theory

In the last 3 decades, the number of people overweight in the United States has increased dramatically. The worldwide increase in Obesity has significantly stirred research on its causes. Three theories have prevailed the deliberation of scientists on how body regulation might take place- Homeostasis, Set Point Theory, and Settling Point Theory. The idea of homeostasis has been generally the main motivational concept discoursed in understanding human behavioural regulation. Homeostasis proposes that for any internal state that needs to be regulated -hunger, thirst, body weight regulation, temperature etc. and there is a set-point – a goal level or optimum point which must remain stable (Brace, 2015). This is the same with the Set Point Theory that proposes that there is an active feedback mechanism relating adipose tissue or stored energy to consumption and expenditure via a ‘set point’, seemingly programmed in the brain. Homeostasis and Set Point Theory both contends that a person's metabolism corrects itself to sustain and maintain a weight at which it is appropriate and comfortable. Classically, the homeostatic regulation ideas have been conversed using the metaphor of a thermostat regulating temperature. For example, the set …show more content…
Formation of the set point negates a part for the interaction of social and economic factors and environmental factors in the etiology of obesity, incorporating the whole thing into the physiology, which appears doubtful; these drove the formulation and development of a theory called Settling Point Theory. Scientists proposed that weight regulation might not be through a pre-determined set point, but through a settling point – equilibrium between opposing pressures (Berthoud,