This approach has revitalized interest in the sensory and external stimulation of food intake and has drawn attention to the hedonic dimension of appetite. The term ‘obesigenic environment’ has entered into scientific discourse and implies that the potency of the external environment is in large part responsible for the increases in food intake that is one of the causal agencies underlying the epidemic of obesity. The idea was that eating behaviour is stimulated and inhibited by internal signalling systems (for the drive and suppression of eating respectively) in order to regulate the internal environment (energy stores, tissue needs).Īlthough there has always been a field of research dedicated to the study of food intake stimulated by the external environment, the rise of obesity in the last 20 years has accelerated thinking about this issue. This approach views food intake as the vehicle for energy supply whose expression is modulated by a metabolic drive generated in response to a requirement for energy. Traditionally food intake has been researched within the homeostatic approach to physiological systems pioneered by Claude Bernard (1), Walter Cannon (2) and others and because feeding is a form of behaviour, it forms part of what Curt Richter referred to as the behavioural regulation of body weight (or behavioural homeostasis) (3). However, this semantic distinction only serves to emphasize the importance of food intake. Food intake is controlled, body weight is regulated. Strictly speaking, we should refer to the control of food intake whose expression is modulated in the interests of the regulation of body weight. Knowledge of the regulation of food intake is crucial to an understanding of body weight and obesity. For complete coverage of this and all related areas of Endocrinology, please visit our online web-text, INTRODUCTION There is now a very strong current of thought that a major cause of an increase in food intake associated with the rise of obesity resides in the hedonic rather than the homeostatic system. The term ‘obesigenic environment’ has entered into scientific discourse and implies that the potency of the external environment is in part responsible for the increases in food intake that is one of the causal agencies underlying the epidemic of obesity. It is also important to note however that day-to-day food involves the co-ordination of both homeostatic and non-homeostatic feedback. The idea was that eating behaviour is stimulated and inhibited by internal signalling systems (for the drive and suppression of eating respectively) in order to regulate the internal environment (energy stores, tissue needs). Traditionally, food intake has been researched within the homeostatic approach to physiological systems pioneered by Claude Bernard, Walter Cannon and others and because feeding is a form of behaviour, it forms part of what Curt Richter referred to as the behavioural regulation of body weight (or behavioural homeostasis).
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