From birth, the urge to eat is the most common everyday experience.
Eating to be nourished is the most basic behaviour of human life, and is
one of the main functions in all living organisms. Clear answers to a
number of important questions have only recently begun to emerge. Why
are animals hungry? How are they driven to seek and eat selected foods?
How do they become satiated so that they ingest the exact amount of food
they need for growth and to maintain stable body weight in adulthood?
This book is the first synthesis, by one hand, of the new knowledge on
feeding behaviour. It describes the roles of body depletion and
repletion of energy and of specific nutrients, of the orosensory
qualities of food and of the brain in integrating and interpreting
internal and external signals. This volume complements that of B.J. &
E.T. Rolls, Thirst, in the same series.