The Beginning of the Collaboration
During the end of June, I was put in contact with Jose Artera, A Lecturer in Sports Nutrition and Metabolism at LJMU. Jose wanted to collaborate with someone who was interested in creating an infographic that could explain the concept of Energy Availability and the Endocrine System. Because of his interest, and my interest in creating scientific infographics, we decided to collaborate on an Infographic- styled animation.
To pitch to Jose how I work, I sent over a rough animation storyboard that I had created, using a case study involving a Thyroid problem. I wanted to show my design style, and how I might interpret some of the research that Jose provides me with.
Athena and the Thyroid, Storyboard, Evie Holmes (2020)
I used the Case Study as a basis for the script, and made the woman struggling with the disorder the main character. I then created a Thyroid with an anthropomorphic personality, to help the viewer imagine a relationship between herself and her Thyroid. This way information can be perceived by the viewer almost as if it's a role play or story, rather then a lesson or instructional guide.
Jose responded, saying he liked the idea that I had pitched, and he decided to send me over some more information to help me better understand Energy Availability and Endocrinology.
The information that Jose sent was from his unpublished paper, so I am not able to show too much, but I began drawing diagrams and writing notes about his study.
What makes up the Endocrine System?, Diagram, Evie Holmes (2020)
Energy Balance and Energy Availability Diagram, Evie Holmes (2020)
The Script - Why is it So Hard to Loose Weight?
After Jose sent me over some ideas that he liked involving other infographics and their style, we began thinking about how we could collaborate together. Jose put together a script to form a direction for the animation -
Endocrine and physiological effects of energy deficit
Why is it so hard to lose weight?
First frame (INTRO)
[Voice-over] With 60% of the population in the UK being overweight or obese, and a strong association between obesity, metabolic diseases and poor quality of life, losing weight is a target of many.
[Voice-over] But losing weight is hard.
[text appears with voice-over] Why is it so hard to lose weight?
[text appears with voice-over] What does an obese person, a high-performance athlete and a person with anorexia nervosa have in common?
-Shows one of each of these individuals in ‘underwear’ when each of are mentioned- appearing in order and looking at each other, confused as if they had nothing to do with each other-
[voice-over] To find an answer to these questions and to find solutions to this problem we need to look under the hood, with endocrinology -the science of hormones- and physiology -the science of how our bodies work-
Second frame (or first) (different people, same response)
[Voiceover] So, what do they have in common? They may all suffer from consequences putting insufficient energy in their bodies relative to the energy they need to maintain their normal physiological function:
The obese/overweight Typically they eat more than they need to maintain weight, but he/she may be trying to lose weight and eat less and exercise more.
The athlete Due to high energy expenditure, not enough energy in, despite eating high amounts of food.
The anorectic Don’t eat enough, regardless of the situation.
-need to succinctly depict each of these, somehow-
Third frame (energy deficit/low energy availability)
[Voice-over] To understand what happens in their bodies we need to look into the effects of Energy Deficit or what we also call Low Energy Availability.
So, what is Energy Availability?
Energy availability is the amount of ingested dietary energy to maintain normal physiological function… (explain briefly definition)
NOTE [JLA]: Here I have to think if we want to go down the route of making it specific to low energy availability or make it more general/generic for energy deficit.
NOTE 2: from here downwards notes are rougher, and may not even correspond to ‘frames’ anymore, but more to topics.
Fourth frame (a response for survival)
[Voice-over] When this happen our body, which typically has enough energy to stay alive and functioning normally, senses that we potentially may be running out of energy for survival.[Voice-over] A deeply engrained evolutionary response will make sure that our organism can survive this stress and do not run out of energy.
[Voice-over] Our body will use less energy and try to procure itself with more food! This is response is called adaptive thermogenesis or metabolic adaptation.
Fourth frame (endocrine response)
-describe what hormones ‘sense’ energy deficit: Gut: Ghrelin and others, Leptin.
-Hypothalamus and pituitary gland:
Hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis
Hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis
-Bones, markers of bone formation and resorption
Fifth frame (physiological response)
Loss of menstrual cycle
Decrease in resting metabolic rate
Increase in hunger
Reduced NEAT (spontaneous physical activity)
Decrease in muscle mass
Osteoporosis
Sixth frame (our body doesn’t like to lose weight)
Confirms why all these things are bad, puts it in perspective
Figure of weight bouncing back after putting it off.
Osteoporosis, bone fractures, loss of muscle mass, increased fatness, weakness, chronic depression of RMR, etc.
Seventh frame (finding a solution)
Is it possible to minimise the negative effects of energy deficit or inducing weight loss?
Our research is looking into this. We are trying to determine best exercise and nutrition interventions to achieve healthy physiological function and minimise or negate the effects of energy deficit.
For example,
we have shown decrease of muscle protein synthesis with energy deficit but weights training and protein intake rescue this.
we have documented resumption of normal menstrual function of an elite athlete with increased energy intake while on heavy training.
Shown that post-menopausal women, which have weak bones, can lose weight, improve their metabolic health and aerobic capacity without negatively affecting their bones with a mild exercise intervention.
Eight Frame (conclusion)
Understanding the endocrinological and physiological effects of energy deficit is very important to develop strategies to achieve successful weight-loss strategies and minimise or eliminate the negative consequences that it triggers through optimised nutrition and exercise interventions
With enough energy, key physiological systems in our body work normally: our bones stay strong, our reproductive system works normally, our muscles maintain their size.
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