These pages use facilities available with the most recent version of the Netscape browser and may not work with Mosaic. In most of us the relative constancy of body weight and adipose tissue over a reasonably long period of time, from several months or a few years requires fine control of our calorie intake yet no one is conscious of a control mechanism. Various theories have been put forward but the subject is still poorly understood. To understand the complexities one has to understand the terms hunger, appetite and satiety used to describe appetite.
Hunger is the craving for food that is associated with objective sensations.
Appetite is the desire for specific types and quantity of food. Appetite may also be associated with a desire for minerals. Satiety is the opposite of hunger resulting from a filling meal. Satiety can be divided into two components, pre and postabsorptive. As in drinking, food consumption ceases before absorption of food from the GIT has corrected any energy imbalance.