ABSTRACT
Food intake is a complex behavior that is nonetheless quite familiar since most of us engage in it several times a day. The complexity derives from the flexibility inherent in most of its parameters and the integrated activity of numerous and diverse influences. This short chapter reviews what is known of the factors that influence food intake in humans and other general omnivores, that is, animals (mammals in this instance) that consume, and are able to derive usable energy from, almost any type of food or nutrient.
