Background

Rapid progress is being made in understanding the brainprocessing and related psychology of the sensory properties of food, and how the satiety (fullness) signals produced during and after eating regulate appetite. While brain mechanisms control appetite, a number of sensory and environmental factors contribute to overstimulation of the sensory systems, producing sensory reward signals that are stronger than can always be controlled easily by satiety signals (1, 2). This knowledge makes it seem very likely that, while satiety signals have not changed in the last 30 years, changes in the same period in the sensory side of the control process mean that they are now being overridden, contributing to the increasing incidence of obesity. One implication of this work is that, if factors on the sensory side of the appetite control process could be regulated, it would open avenues to address obesity prevention and control. From the neuroscience and psychology perspective, there are, however, many other mechanisms that interact with the brain and contribute to obesity.