Holistic approach to effects of foods, human physiology, and psychology on food intake and appetite (satiation & satiety)

Abstract

Appetite (satiation and satiety) is an essential element for the control of eating behavior, and as a consequence human nutrition, body weight, and chronic disease risk. A better understanding of appetite mechanisms is necessary to modulate eating behavior and food intake, and also provide a practical approach for weight management. Although many researchers have investigated the relationships between satiation/satiety and specific factors including human physiology, psychology, and food characteristics, limited information on the interactions between factors or comparisons between the relative importance of factors in contributing to satiation/satiety have been reported. This article reviews progress and gaps in understanding individual attributes contributing to perceived satiation/satiety, the advantages of considering multiple factors together in appetite experiments, as well as the applications of nondestructive sensing in evaluating human factors contributing to relative appetite perception. The approaches proposed position characterization of appetite (satiation and satiety) for personalized and precision nutrition in relation to human status and healthy diets. In particular, it is recommended that future studies of appetite perception recognize the inter-dependence of food type and intake, appetite (satiation and satiety), and individual status.

Keywords:

• Appetite
• food intake
• foods
• nondestructive sensing
• physiology
• psychology

Author contributions

Conceptualization, D.N., M.J.G, H.E.S., and D.C.; investigation, D.N.; writing-original draft preparation, D.N.; writing-review and editing, M.J.G, D.C. and H.E.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

DN acknowledges the award of a scholarship from the China Scholarship Council and the University of Queensland.