Control of food intake, appetite and satiety
Abstract:
Appetite and satiety are controlled by complex nested feedback systems between the brain and the gut. Some of these control mechanisms are newly discovered, and likely others will be discovered, given the pace of new information in this field. Targeting these systems is obviously a high priority in the midst of an obesity epidemic, but drugs developed to control food intake have often been plagued by intolerable side effects. These failures are likely due in part to an insufficient model of the whole system controlling food intake. In my talk, I will review what is known about the neural control over food and calorie intake, as a starting point to developing a better global model of the control system, going beyond the models developed around single hormones. Appetite control is a good example of neural control system that could be a rich collaboration between experts in control, clinicians and drug developers.