Promote Food Consumption Research Articles

What do we most need to learn about food intake regulation?

Many mechanisms are known to contribute to the regulation of food intake. This notwithstanding, variations in food intake from day to day and deviations from daily energy balance are substantial and very readily tolerated. Yet, despite this very loose short-term adjustment of food intake to energy expenditure, most adults maintain stable body compositions during long periods of their lives. This is particularly puzzling when it occurs in the face of an ubiquitous supply of appealing foods and under circumstances that, in many ways, promote food consumption. Thus, the question arises as to why people in affluent societies eat substantially less on most days, than the amounts that they can so readily consume on high-intake days? In addition to conscious decisions, physiological phenomena restraining food consumption must be presumed to play an important role in limiting weight. But what are the phenomena that cause spontaneous reduction in food intake after a few days of overeating? Our ignorance about the nature and impact of these effects stands in the way of a better understanding of body weight regulation and of the factors responsible for the induction and maintenance of obesity.

Effects of Foreign Investment, Exports, and Economic Growth on Third World Food Consumption

World-system and related theories indicate that international dependence has important impacts on the satisfaction of basic needs such as nutrition. However, previous crossnational studies of food consumption have yielded ambiguous findings on the effect of export dependence on consumption; they also have neglected the potentially intervening role of economic growth — the focus of earlier cross-national research and an object of ongoing controversy. Our panel analysis of 59 Third World countries for 1967–1985 shows that reduction of primary export dependence promotes food consumption, and that transnational corporate (TNC) investment dependence has an exceptionally strong harmful effect on consumption. Economic growth, however, mediates very little of the effects of dependence on consumption, signifying the limited relevance of earlier crossnational research on growth. Our findings, which support world-system, dependency, and related perspectives, are upheld by robust regression analysis.

Mere exposure reduces cats' neophobia to unfamiliar food

The aim of this study was to determine if meal temperature of cat wet food affected the feeding preference of aging (>7 years of age) domestic short-haired cats. We examined a chunks in gravy product served at three nominal temperatures of 6⁰C, 21⁰C, and 37⁰C using a two-bowl difference test. Gravy viscosity was measured using a Brookfield DV1 viscometer and the percentage of volatile compounds released at each product temperature was also analysed using headspace solid-phase micro-extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The aging cats significantly preferred the warmer products in all pairwise comparisons, 6⁰C < 21⁰C < 37⁰C, with the product at 37⁰C being the most preferred. The gravy viscosity was almost identical at each temperature, however, significant changes were observed in 11 out of the 15 volatile compound chemical classes measured at the different product temperatures. Hence, warming may increase the attractiveness by changing and/ or enhancing the flavor profile for aging cats. Understanding the feeding behaviors and preferences of aging cats is an important area of research. Warmed wet food can help to promote food consumption in aging cats, especially those that have lost interest in eating or do not consume enough product to maintain a healthy body weight.