Loss of Appetite Overview

In fact, loss of appetite means you don’t have the same desire to eat as you used to. Signs of decreased appetite include, for instance, not wanting to eat, unexplained weight loss, and not feeling hungry.

Additionally, anyone can experience a loss of appetite, and this can occur for many different reasons. For example, people may have less of a desire to eat, lose interest in food, or feel nausea at the idea of eating.

Furthermore, a wide variety of conditions can cause your appetite to decrease. These causes range between mental and physical illnesses. In fact, it is often temporary due to factors such as infections or digestive issues; in which case, appetite will come back when a person has recovered.

Moreover, along with a loss of appetite, a person may also experience fatigue, malnutrition, and weight loss if they are not eating enough food to sustain their body. Consequently, these conditions can be serious if left untreated, so it’s important to find the reason behind the decreased appetite and treat it.

Finally, some people may also lose their appetite as a symptom of a long-term medical condition, such as in the late stages of serious illness, including cancer. This, in fact, is part of a condition that doctors call cachexia.

In addition, the medical term for a complete loss of appetite over a more extended period of time is anorexia. This is different to the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, which is a mental health issue.

Causes of Loss of Appetite

A number of conditions can lead to a decreased appetite. Common viral or bacterial infections, such as flu or gastroenteritis, are often to blame for appetite loss. Individuals with pain in the mouths, such as sores, may also experience a loss of appetite if it becomes difficult to eat food.

In most cases, a persons appetite will return to normal once the underlying condition or reason is treated.

Following are the common causes of  loss of appetite:

Pregnancy can also cause a loss of appetite during the first trimester.

Age

A loss of appetite can also be more common in older adults. This can be due to increased use of medications and changes in the body as it ages. These changes can affect:

  • Digestive system
  • Hormones
  • Sense of taste or smell

Bacteria and Viruses

Loss of appetite can be caused by bacterial, viral, fungal, or other infections at any location.

Following are some of the infections that can cause loss of appetite:

Cancers

A loss of appetite or unexplained weight loss can sometimes be a symptom of certain cancers, such as:

Along with a loss of appetite, individuals may experience the following symptoms:

  • Blood in stools
  • Feeling full quickly
  • Heartburn
  • Pain in stomach
  • Yellowing of the skin or eyes (jaundice)

Medical Conditions

Chronic medical conditions can cause a loss of appetite for a range of reasons that vary depending on the cause. Loss of appetite can be related to lowered immune system function, feeling unwell, and having an upset stomach.

Following are the medical conditions that can cause a loss of appetite:

Side Effects of Medications

A loss of appetite is a common side effect of many medications, along with other digestive issues, such as constipation or diarrhea. This is common when medications pass through a person’s stomach and digestive tract.

Following are the some of the medications and treatments that often cause a loss of appetite:

If a patient has recently undergone a major surgery, he or she may experience a loss of appetite after the surgical procedure. This feeling can be partly related to anesthesia drugs.

Taking narcotic drugs recreationally, such as cocaine, cannabis, and amphetamines can also cause a loss of appetite.

Psychological Causes

Psychological factors and mental health conditions can have a significant impact on a person’s appetite. There are various psychological causes for a decreased appetite. Many older adults lose their appetites,

Following are some of the psychological causes of loss of appetite:

Eating disorders, such as bulimia or anorexia nervosa, can also lead to a decreased appetite overall. A person with anorexia nervosa undergoes self-starvation or other methods to lose weight.

People who have this condition are typically underweight and have a fear of gaining weight. Anorexia nervosa can also cause malnutrition.

Biospecimens

biospecimens

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Moreover, human biospecimens are available including tumor tissue, serum, plasma and PBMC Samples from most other therapeutic areas.

Furthermore, Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and likewise normal healthy donors for controls. Additionally, available in all formats and types.

In fact, our biobank procures and stores fully consented, de-identified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples, human biofluids such as serum samples, plasma samples from various diseases and matched controls.

Also, all our human tissue collections, human biospecimens and human biofluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

In fact, this critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Additionally, researchers find the patient’s data associated with the human biospecimens extremely valuable and use it to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, as well as in other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and human biological samples, including fresh frozen human biospecimens cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

For example fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as human serum, human plasma and human PBMCs.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) and human bio-fluids from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

  • Firstly, peripheral whole-blood
  • Secondly, amniotic fluid
  • Thirdly, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL)
  • Next, sputum
  • Also, pleural effusion
  • Moreover, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
  • Likewise, serum (sera)
  • In addition, plasma
  • Moreover, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) 
  • Furthermore, saliva
  • Next, buffy coat
  • Accordingly, urine
  • For example, Stool samples
  • Also, aqueous humor
  • And, vitreous humor
  • Lastly, kidney stones (renal calculi)
  • Finally, other bodily fluids from most diseases including cancer.

Moreover, we can also procure most human biospecimens and human biofluids, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples and human biofluids are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human biofluids such as  human plasma, human serum, and human PBMCs bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols. you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us in multiple format and sets.

Bay Biosciences also provides human biospecimens from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, Contact us Now.