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NutrInsight • About the value of controlling appetite
3.3 Individual factors or the characteristics of the «eater»
The old adage «Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are» reveals the extent of the interactions involved in the characteristics of the «eater» (7). Thus, experience and learning alter eating behaviour, as do sociocultural influences, and certain individual characteristics including age, cognitive restriction and physical activity.
Age, cognitive restriction, physical activity
Three main characteristics influence human eating behaviour: age, cognitive restriction and physical activity.
Age
The phenomena of hunger and satiety vary over the course of life. Three fundamental periods have been investigated due to their specific features. These begin in early childhood, a period during which the child does not feed independently, but is under parental control (110;111). Children under two years of age naturally regulate their energy intake as a function of their needs, ensuring a balance between hunger/ satiety (110). During the first year of life, a varied diet is introduced and children exhibit an innate preference for sweet and salty foods rather than those with bitter or sour tastes. The acquisition of a varied diet in young children runs into a physiological barrier: the spontaneous rejection of any new food, as a result of the child’s «neophobia». Here too, the attitude of the parents still has a considerable influence on what can become a dietary aversion linked to consumption imposed by authority (112).
The transition to adulthood corresponds to acquiring the status of an «autonomous eater». Although this is influenced by previous experiences, it allows free will to intervene: starting to eat can result of a decision originating in the higher functions (the «will» described by Berridge and Robinson) emanating from the cerebral cortex without any hunger signals (19;113). In the same way, the decision to end a meal can be taken even though the phenomena of satiation and satiety have not yet come into operation. Thus, in adulthood cognitive factors may take over control of eating rather than physiological factors, by initiating or stopping the consumption of food in the absence of any hunger or satiation signal. Regulating bodyweight then becomes more complex and can lead to extremes, culminating in either extreme thinness or obesity.
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