{"id":2000106887,"date":"2026-03-30T16:22:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T14:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000106887"},"modified":"2026-03-30T15:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T13:36:17","slug":"why-your-appetite-suddenly-disappears-when-youre-sick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/why-your-appetite-suddenly-disappears-when-youre-sick\/","title":{"rendered":"Why your appetite suddenly disappears when you\u2019re sick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Previous work had shown that infections often lead to appetite loss, but until now, the exact biological pathway behind this effect was not fully understood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the new study, researchers found that specialized cells in the gut detect harmful organisms \u00a0 such as parasitic worms \u00a0 and send chemical signals to the brain that effectively say \u201cstop eating.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This process doesn\u2019t happen all at once. Initially, people may feel normal, but as the infection progresses and these signals build up, appetite can disappear completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings help explain why appetite loss can linger even after other symptoms begin to fade. Millions of people worldwide experience this pattern not only during short\u2011term stomach illnesses but also with long\u2011lasting infections where appetite remains low for extended periods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research suggests that the gut\u2019s immune response plays a major role in controlling hunger by interacting with the brain\u2019s hunger centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding this gut\u2011brain communication system could lead to better treatments for conditions where appetite is suppressed in harmful ways, such as during chronic infections or in diseases that involve extreme weight loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scientists behind the study hope future work will explore how this pathway might be influenced to help patients maintain healthy eating behaviors even while sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
New study has uncovered how infections cause sudden loss of appetite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists have discovered how the body\u2019s internal signals cause a sudden loss of appetite when a person gets sick, explaining a common experience many people know well: feeling hungry one moment and completely uninterested in food the next. This new research, led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, shows that the gut communicates directly with the brain during infections, triggering a powerful appetite\u2011suppressing response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2000106891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[75],"byline":[201],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000106887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-homenews","byline-rania-umutoni"],"bylines":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"contributors":[{"id":201,"name":"Rania Umutoni","slug":"rania-umutoni","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":139}],"featured_image":{"id":2000106891,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ChatGPT-Image-Mar-30-2026-12_03_38-PM.png","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/png","width":1536,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ChatGPT-Image-Mar-30-2026-12_03_38-PM.png","width":150,"height":100},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ChatGPT-Image-Mar-30-2026-12_03_38-PM.png","width":300,"height":200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ChatGPT-Image-Mar-30-2026-12_03_38-PM.png","width":768,"height":512},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ChatGPT-Image-Mar-30-2026-12_03_38-PM.png","width":1024,"height":683},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ChatGPT-Image-Mar-30-2026-12_03_38-PM.png","width":1536,"height":1024}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000106887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000106887"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000106887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000106925,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000106887\/revisions\/2000106925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000106891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000106887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000106887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000106887"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000106887"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000106887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}