ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the food intake and its regulation only from the physiological point of view but also from the sociocultural angle. Recognition of the involvement of the ventromedial hypothalamus in the regulation of food intake come until it was shown that if the ventromedial hypothalamic area was destroyed or lesioned in animals, these animals overate with a resulting increase in body fat. All of these studies implicating various portions of the brain in the regulation of food intake were conducted using brain lesioning experimental protocols in rats and mice. Leptin, as mentioned, is a major player in the regulation of food intake, yet food or food components can have effects on leptin production and release. The signals may truly be hunger or satiety signals, but one must not confuse a satiety signal with a food intake-inhibition signal or confuse a hunger signal with a food intake-initiation signal.
