Hunger Satiation Research Articles

A Comparative Study of Hunger and Satiation of Hunger in the Literary Works of M.T. Vasudevan Nair and Perumal Murugan

The ‘presence’ and ‘absence’ of food, has been an oft-deliberated topic right from the Palaeolithic Age in India. Starting from the Bhimbetka Rock paintings to the famous Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings to Nandlal’s artworks depicting the famine and drain of economy due to the imperial greed in Bengal - all of which depict the creative artist’s and writer’s colossal engagement with hunger and satiation of hunger. Likewise, several fiction writers have explored the idea of hunger, especially in Malayalam and Tamil language. The idea of hunger has been used as a trope by several indigenous writers to explore multiple social turmoils and transformations. For example, writers like M.T. Vasudevan Nair use memories of hunger by child narrators to depict the fall of the feudal system, collapse of matrilineal structures, social neglect and gender marginalisation. In the present essay, we focus on two aspects of hunger a) the representation of memories of hunger amongst the rural agrarian communities b) the role that mothers play and the methods that they incorporate in mitigating hunger and creating a feeling of illusory self sufficiency (of food) amongst children. The essay argues that memories of hunger, dearth, and abundance of food are forged not just by the physical lack of it but by the experiences of lack of social security, denial of identity and the rupture of familial ties. To substantiate our arguments we draw upon the literary works of M.T. Vasudevan Nair, and Perumal Murugan and use the theoretical framework of memory studies.

Larder Hoarding Versus Immediate in situ Food Consumption in Two Fiddler Crab Species: Is it an Evolutionarily Stable Strategy?

Larder hoarding behavior in central place foragers has been widely studied in vertebrates, albeit, not as extensively as scatter hoarding. However, scant information is available for the invertebrate taxa, especially aquatic species. We investigated this phenomenon via an in situ food supplementation experiment in a community of two sympatric fiddler crabs, Austruca annulipes (n = 80; 40 males and 40 females) and Gelasimus vocans (n = 60; 30 males and 30 females), in a Singapore mangrove patch with an intermediate resource level. As the semiterrestrial intertidal crabs can only forage after emergence from their burrows during exposure period, the duration of time available for feeding is finite and constitutes an important constraint in the optimization of food intake. The activity budget (in terms of time spent on feeding activities, all above-ground non-feeding activities, and burrow-sequestration) as well as the occurrence (if any) of larder hoarding behavior in these two species after they first emerged were recorded by hourly intervals (three hours of observation) to determine the effect of time left for foraging on larder hoarding. Regardless of species, A. annulipes and G. vocans spent most of the time feeding when the tide was out, despite overall significant behavioral heterogeneity (multivariate analyses using ANOSIM) indicating that both species prioritized hunger satiation over other activities. Our results also showed that although the two sympatric crabs live in the same mangrove area with similar food resource levels, only A. annulipes larder hoarded. The propensity to larder hoard did not differ significantly between the sexes, nor among the three time periods of the feeding duration. Gelasimus vocans, one of the species of crabs known to form feeding droves, did not larder hoard at all. We propose that A. annulipes is a species that can deploy larder hoarding as a foraging strategy when it encounters valuable food resources, and such a strategy is highly advantageous for the species as it generally inhabits sandy habitats that are poor in nutrient levels. Hence, larder hoarding can be considered a mixed evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) adopted by A. annulipes. In contrast, G. vocans that commonly inhabits muddy sediments-with a high level of food resources-did not larder hoard, even when provided with supplemented food, suggesting perhaps that its mixed ESS is droving behavior.

Pro-islet amyloid polypeptide in micelles contains a helical prohormone segment.

Pro-islet amyloid polypeptide (proIAPP) is the prohormone precursor molecule to IAPP, also known as amylin. IAPP is a calcitonin family peptide hormone that is cosecreted with insulin, and largely responsible for hunger satiation and metabolic homeostasis. Amyloid plaques containing mixtures of mature IAPP and misprocessed proIAPP deposit on, and destroy pancreatic β-cell membranes, and they are recognized as a clinical hallmark of type 2 diabetes mellitus. In order to better understand the interaction with cellular membranes, we solved the solution NMR structure of proIAPP bound to dodecylphosphocholine micelles at pH 4.5. We show that proIAPP is a dynamic molecule with four α-helices. The first two helices are contained within the mature IAPP sequence, while the second two helices are part of the C-terminal prohormone segment (Cpro). We mapped the membrane topology of the amphipathic helices by paramagnetic relaxation enhancement, and we used CD and diffusion-ordered spectroscopy to identify environmental factors that impact proIAPP membrane affinity. We discuss how our structural results relate to prohormone processing based on the varied pH environments and lipid compositions of organelle membranes within the regulated secretory pathway, and the likelihood of Cpro survival for cosecretion with IAPP. DATABASE: The assigned resonances have been deposited in the Biological Magnetic Resonance Bank (BMRB) with accession numbers 50007 and 50019 for proIAPP and Cpro, respectively. The lowest energy structures have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) with access codes 6UCJ and 6UCK.

Diel feeding behavior in a partially migrant Mysis population: A benthic-pelagic comparison

Populations that exhibit partial migration include migrants and non-migrants. For benthic-pelagic organisms that exhibit partial diel vertical migration (PDVM), migrants and non-migrants spend different amounts of time in benthic and pelagic foraging arenas over a diel cycle. For example, mysids exhibit PDVM and can feed on benthic and pelagic resources. Migratory individuals are assumed to undergo vertical migration at night to access pelagic food when predation risk is low. However, feeding behavior of non-migrant benthic individuals is not well understood. One hypothesis to explain individual variability in diel vertical migration (DVM) behavior is the hunger-satiation state of individuals (hunger-satiation (HS) hypothesis), which predicts that migration is driven by hunger and non-migration is a response to satiation. We assessed diel feeding patterns of benthic- and pelagic-caught Mysis in Lake Champlain to evaluate if PDVM was consistent with predictions of the HS hypothesis. Stomach fullness and diet composition revealed little diel difference in stomach contents between time of day or between benthic and pelagic individuals at night. Pelagic individuals had consistently higher stomach fullness shortly after sunset compared to near midnight. Non-migrant benthic individuals at night and benthic-caught individuals during the day had similar amounts of detritus in stomachs. High stomach fullness and levels of zooplankton in benthic-caught stomachs indicate Mysis actively feed when benthic, regardless of time of day. Our results suggest variation in Mysis migration behavior is not likely due to hunger-satiation, and highlights the importance of variable behavior in determining Mysis effects on food web interactions in deep lakes.

Positive or negative emotion induced by feeding success or failure can affect behaviors, heart rate and immunity of suckling calves

This study investigated behavioral and physiological responses of suckling calves to either positive or negative situations. Twelve healthy female suckling Holstein calves at approximately 30 days of age were randomly selected and allocated to two groups: a) a positive situation (POS) group that received a feed reward and b) a negative situation (NEG) group that experienced food frustration. Behavior, heart rate (HR), and immune parameters were measured during the emotion-inducing periods and analyzed via ANOVA. The results indicated that the POS calves showed significantly increased locomotive play but decreased self-grooming, head shaking, and tongue-rolling behaviors as compared to the NEG counterparts (p < .05). The NEG calves had the highest HR (p < .01) after negative emotion induction. Salivary cortisol (S-CORT) level significantly increased following both positive and negative emotional induction (p < .05). In humoral immunity, serum concentrations of IgA were not significantly affected by either the positive or negative situation (p > .05), but the salivary SIgA level of the POS calves was higher than that of the NEG group (p < .01). Serum IL-2 and IL-3 levels in the POS calves were significantly higher than those of the NEG group (p < .01). However, the serum TNF-α level in the POS group was significantly lower than in the NEG group (p < .05). The results suggest that hunger satiation or food frustration may induce different behavioral and physiological responses in suckling calves, presenting an interesting set of reactions appropriate in response to the emotional situations elicited by this short-term stimulus

Maternal depression and attachment: the evaluation of mother-child interactions during feeding practice.

Internal working models (IWMs) of attachment can moderate the effect of maternal depression on mother–child interactions and child development. Clinical depression pre-dating birthgiving has been found to predict incoherent and less sensitive caregiving. Dysfunctional patterns observed, included interactive modes linked to feeding behaviors which may interfere with hunger–satiation, biological rhythms, and the establishment of children’s autonomy and individuation. Feeding interactions between depressed mothers and their children seem to be characterized by repetitive interactive failures: children refuse food through oppositional behavior or negativity. The aim of this study was to investigate parenting skills in the context of feeding in mothers with major depression from the point of view of attachment theory. This perspective emphasizes parents’ emotion, relational and affective history and personal resources. The sample consisted of 60 mother–child dyads. Mothers were divided into two groups: 30 with Major Depression and 30 without disorders. Children’s age ranged between 12 and 36 months The measures employed were the Adult Attachment Interview and the Scale for the Evaluation of Alimentary Interactions between Mothers and Children. Insecure attachment prevailed in mothers with major depression, with differences on the Subjective Experience and State of Mind Scales. Groups also differed in maternal sensitivity, degrees of interactive conflicts and negative affective states, all of which can hinder the development of adequate interactive patterns during feeding. The results suggest that IWMs can constitute an indicator for the evaluation of the relational quality of the dyad and that evaluations of dyadic interactions should be considered when programming interventions.

Twilight vertical migrations of zooplankton in a Chilean fjord

Time series of acoustic backscatter and vertical velocity profiles were obtained at three sites along a Chilean fjord with the purpose of determining dominant structures of vertical migrations of the sound scattering layer. Ancillary data obtained with stratified net samples indicated that the sound scattering layer may have been dominated by euphausiids and decapods. Therefore, distributions of acoustic backscatter anomalies and vertical velocities were attributed to vertical migrations of predominantly these organisms. Migration patterns were dominated by twilight excursions in which organisms swam toward the water surface at sunset, spent <0.5h at a depth near the pycnocline (∼10m) and then swam downward to depths between ∼20 and ∼60m. After congregating at those depths during night-time, organisms swam upward again toward the pycnocline at sunrise, spent <1h near the pycnocline and swam downward to their day-time depths (>100m). This migration strategy can also be termed ‘semidiel migration’ as two double excursions were linked to light levels. The reasons for this twilight migration remain uncertain. But it is possible that the up and down motion around sunset was related to predation avoidance, hunger–satiation state, ontogeny, seaward transport evasion, or reaction to the environmental shock from the pycnocline, or a combination of all or some of them. In contrast, the sunrise double excursion was probably linked to feeding requirements by organisms that need to spend the day at great depth with no food available. This study demonstrated the existence of semidiel patterns throughout the fjord and through prolonged periods. In addition, identification of this pattern by acoustic backscatter was complemented by direct vertical velocity measurements. It is proposed that twilight vertical migration is a common strategy in Chilean fjords.

Role of expendable income and price in food choice by low income families

The public health literature suggests that the cheapness of energy-dense foods is driving the obesity epidemic. We examined food purchases in low-income families and its relationship to the price of food and availability of funds. In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 parents with children less than 15years of age whose major source of income was a government pension. A photo taxonomy, where participants sorted 50 photos of commonly purchased foods, was used to explore food choice. The most common food groupings used by the participants were: basic, emergency, treat and comfort. The process of food purchase was described by participants as weighing up the attributes of a food in relation to price and money available. Shoppers nominated the basic unit of measurement as quantity per unit price and the heuristic for food choice when shopping as determining “value for money” in a process of triage relating to food purchase decisions. Participants stated satiation of hunger to be the most common “value” relative to price. Given that the foods nominated as filling tended to be carbohydrate-rich staples, we suggest that public health initiatives need to acknowledge this triage process and shape interventions to promote nutrition over satiation.

Use of participatory research and photo-voice to support urban Aboriginal healthy eating

The aim of this research was to work collaboratively with an urban Aboriginal community to understand meanings of food and food insecurity and strengthen responses to this issue. The project took place at the Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative in Geelong, South Eastern Australia in 2009-2010. Photo-voice research methods were used to explore meanings of food and food insecurity. This identified that food selections were influenced by family harmony, collectivism and satiation of hunger with cheap high carbohydrate and fat foods. People were also proud of their hunter-gatherer heritage and saw the Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative as leaders in healthy food provision. Action research cycles were used to develop responses including plates depicting healthy food portions, social cooking opportunities, development of a cooking television series and a specialised cook-book. The partnership required researchers to listen carefully to respond to needs of the Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative, and this meant adapting research plans to suit the local environment and community partner needs. There is potential for Aboriginal organisations to provide further leadership for healthy eating and food security through workplace food policies and partnerships with food security agencies. Use of Aboriginal nutrition knowledge to provide nutrition education may be useful in health promotion approaches.

The Influence of Bite Size on Quantity of Food Consumed: A Field Study: Figure 1.

While research has extensively investigated how portion sizes can influence the quantity of food consumed, relatively little work has been done to explore how bite size influences overall consumption. This research seeks to address this concern. In a field study, we collected data in a restaurant and manipulated bite size by providing diners with small or large forks. We found that diners consumed more from smaller rather than larger forks. Utilizing motivation literature, which ties into the unique factors present in a restaurant consumption setting (e.g., diners have a well-defined goal of hunger satiation because they invest effort by visiting a specific restaurant, choose from a menu, and pay money for the meal), we present our rationale for the pattern of results. Moreover, in a controlled lab study we demonstrate that when these factors are absent, the pattern of results is reversed.

An index model on predatory effect of female adults of Coccinella septempunctata L. on Macrosiphum euphorbiae Thomas

: The predatory effect of female adults of Coccinella septempunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) on aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) was examined under laboratory conditions, in controlled environmental chambers. This study took place on single rose leaves in transparent small plastic cages at varying proportions of predator/number of aphids. Coccinella septempunctata proved to be an effective predator for the biological control of M. euphorbiae under controlled conditions in closed environments. It is proposed to use starved adult females of C. septempunctata in biological control programmes in greenhouses, as a specialized predator of M. euphorbiae in proportions near 1 : 35 predator/aphids. The percentage of aphids that may escape was correlated to the hunger satiation of the predator and the total number of aphids, and the theoretical models describing the predator's behaviour under controlled conditions were defined.

Experimental provisioning increases play in free-ranging meerkats

The sensitivity of play to variations in food availability has been cited as evidence of the costliness of play, since energetically stressed animals dispense with costly behaviours. However, the causality of the relationship between nutrition and play has not been adequately tested. Using weight gain as a measure of food intake, we documented the food consumption of free-ranging meerkat, Suricata suricatta, pups and found that long-term nutritional status (weight gain over a 6-week period) was positively correlated with rates of play. We confirmed the causality of this relationship by conducting long-term (4–8 weeks) provisioning experiments that raised the nutritional status of experimental pups, subadults and adults. Experimental animals more than doubled their rate of play compared with their nonprovisioned controls. Short-term variations in food consumption (daily weight gain) were not correlated with subsequent rates of play, and we used a short-term feeding experiment to document the transitory effects of hunger satiation. We established that an increase in available energy contributed to the increase in rates of play, rather than the animals simply having more time available to play as a result of being released from the constraints of foraging. We conclude that play in meerkats was energetically costly, and must be adaptive given that the cost of play to juveniles (in terms of future reproductive success) was potentially high. Copyright 2002 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

New use for jojoba waste

A new process from the US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) will detoxify jojoba meal so that it can be fed to livestock. Leftover meal from the extraction of jojoba oil contains simmondsins, compounds that stimulate hunger satiation, which previously made jojoba meal useless. The new process extracts simmondsins from the meal, which can then be consumed by animals. The detoxified meal is nutritious and contains 25–30% protein. The extraction process also yields biologically active simmondsins, possibly a new hunger satiation ingredient for humans. M2 Presswire, 6 November 2000 www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/dec00/jojoba1200.html.

Descriptions of Comfort by Substance‐Using and Nonusing Pospartum Women

To compare definitions of comfort held by a group of postpartum substance users with those of a group of nonusers.The postpartum unit of a large university hospital.The convenience sample constituted 36 postpartum women; half were substance users and half denied substance use. The nonusing participants were matched to the users according to age, race, type of delivery, and parity.Qualitative, descriptive.Data were collected through semistructured, individual interviews. Patients defined comfort and described the characteristics and patterns of comfort during the postpartum period.Data were analyzed into three categories of themes. Attributes of comfort were resolution of pain, resolution of fatigue, satiation of hunger, resolution of individual irritants, and relaxation. Interventions for comfort were standard therapy, supportive presence, and caring nursing approach. Modifiers of comfort were individualized comfort patterns, environmental ease, and maternal concern.Comfort is more than the absence of pain. A supportive presence and a caring nursing approach were the most helpful interventions.

Chapter 1 The visceral sensations — some basic mechanisms

This chapter discusses the visceral sensations normally experienced are: breathlessness during exercise, immediate satiation of hunger and thirst, bladder fullness, and rectal fullness. These sensations are experienced apparently also by animals, as shown by their behavior. In addition, man experiences the sensations associated with hunger pangs, for which the sensory mechanism is yet to be determined. Another sensation whose peripheral mechanism is yet to be determined is nausea, which although not a normal sensation, occurs in man and apparently must occur in animals. Cough is the result of sensation of irritation in the throat. This sensation can also be regarded as a normal sensation, as it constitutes the afferent limb of a protective reflex and is experienced fairly frequently, by both man and animals, during imperfect deglutition. The other sensations, such as choking, anginal pain, biliary, gastric, intestinal, renal colics, and pleural pain, are nociceptive and occur under pathological conditions.

Effects of Hunger Satiation on Diet Quality by Grazing Sheep

Effects of Hunger Satiation on Diet Quality by Grazing Sheep

Jejunal signals in hunger satiety

Physiological signals arising in the jejunum were tested for their effect on hunger satiation. Despite the presence of food in the jejunum, no change in feeding behavior was observed. The experiment was conducted with a new surgical preparation. Each member of a parabiotic rat pair had a 25-cm segment of its jejunum replaced with a 25-cm segment of its partner's jejunum. In this preparation food eaten by one rat of each pair arrived in its stomach, traversed 15 cm of its own intestines and then crossed into the intestines of its partner. The remaining food traveled through 25 cm of the partner's intestines before returning to the intestines of the rat that fed. In the experiment, one rat of each pair was fed first. Although these rats lacked internal signals arising in their own jejunal segments, they ate meals of normal size. The second rat of each pair was fed 10, 30, or 60 min after the first rat began. Despite the prior presence of food in the jejunal segment and its absorption into the blood, these rats also ate meals of normal size. Both tests show that internal signals arising in the intestinal segment do not affect feeding behavior. Neural messages originating in, hormones released by and nutrients absorbed through the jejunal segment do not by themselves produce satiety.

The Meal Patterns of the Oestrous Cycle and Their Motivational Significance

Food intake was monitored continuously throughout the oestrous cycle of the rat by operant methods. On the night of oestrus the size of meals eaten was reduced and the average intermeal interval was shorter; and even after meals of the same size, oestrous animals returned to eat again more quickly than dioestrous animals. These results suggest that the way in which ovarian oestrogens reduce food intake is by intensifying processes responsible for the short-term satiation of hunger without affecting the motivational processes responsible for its arousal. Signs of motivational arousal at oestrus could thus be the result of a self-imposed nutritional deprivation, rather than a direct effect of ovarian hormones on sexual receptivity.

The effect of hunger satiation in the test phase on inference performance.

The effect of hunger satiation in the test phase on inference performance.

Hunger reduction produced by injecting glucose into the lateral ventricle of the rat.

IT has been repeatedly shown that the ventro-medial nucleus of the hypothalamus is responsible for the satiation of hunger. According to Mayer1, this is brought about by hypothalamic glucoreceptors. Because of the rapid removal of injected glucose from the blood-stream, direct experimental tests of Mayer's hypothesis have yielded conflicting results.