ABSTRACT
The short-term consequences of food ingestion produce a powerful inhibition on further intake. Signals generated from the very start of consumption act in concert to terminate eating behavior. These signals provide the brain with an estimation of a meal rather than an accurate analysis of its content. We should draw a distinction between short-term satiety signals generated by the physiological consequences of meal intake (episodic) and the long-term signals generated by the body’s constant metabolic need for energy (tonic). The former are critical to the meal-by-meal regulation of energy intake. They underpin both the flux of appetite we experience and the pattern of eating behavior we engage in across the day. The term episodic refers to the characteristic oscillations of feeding behavior, which are common to many omnivores, and the flux in appetite we experience. This periodicity is in contrast to the constant tonic drive to maintain energy balance. Tonic signals are derived from the steady and continuous metabolic need for energy and lack the fluctuation of episodic signals.
