Regulation of Food Intake

Abstract

This chapter mainly focuses on the concepts in the regulation of food intake and the progress in the knowledge of nutrition, the importance of food, water, and nutrition for the survival of a living element and also the processes that take place during food intake. Nutrition consists of many biochemical, physiological, and behavioral processes, all of them interlocked and geared to the specific function that is the survival of each animal. Food exists in the external environment. To obtain food requires a sense of need or appetite. Appetite or drive sets an animal in search for food. This requires locomotion, exploration, and examination. Recognition of food is made possible by the chemical senses. The animal must choose an adequate diet in accordance with its needs. Information about food in the external environment is integrated in the brain with information on bodily needs, leading to a choice of food best suited to the survival of the animal. The chapter covers topics like early concepts in the regulation of food intake, appetite, hunger, drive, urges for food, the gastrointestinal tract and regulation of food intake, role of adipose tissues in regulation of food intake, alimentary behavior, processing of food: flavors; obesity: impairment of regulation of food intake; diet and span of life.