This project will investigate the psychobiological factors that influence the preference for and consumption of carbohydrate-rich and fat-rich foods. There has been considerable concern that diets high in simple carbohydrates, and even more so high in fat, promote human disease and obesity. Laboratory research has documented that high-sugar and high- fat foods promote overeating, overweight, and obesity in animals. However, the psychobiological mechanisms responsible for these effects remain incompletely understood. Of particular importance are the determinants of food choice: why do animals (including humans) select sugar- and fat-rich foods when many food options are available? The orosensory properties (flavor) of high-sugar and high-fat foods are clearly attractive to animals. It is now known that the postingestive actions of these nutrients significantly enhance carbohydrate and fat appetites. Until recently, postingestive nutrient actions were considered to be exclusively inhibitory (satiating) in nature, but recent findings demonstrate that nutrients have positive (reinforcing) postingestive consequences that influence food choice and consumption by conditioning flavor preferences and acceptance.
The specific aims of this project are to (1) Investigate the relationship between nutrient reinforcement and satiety in learned food preferences. (2) Determine the effects of deprivation state on conditioned flavor preference and acceptance. (3) Reveal the effects of nutrient reinforcement on consummatory, appetitive and instrumental behaviors. (4) Evaluate the unconditioned stimuli in nutrient-conditioned flavor preferences. (5) Investigate the central neural mediation of flavor- nutrient preference conditioning. This research involves the fields of psychobiology, neuroscience, nutrition, and gastrointestinal physiology. It will advance our basic knowledge of the psychobiology of carbohydrate and fat appetite and the development of food preferences. The findings may provide practical benefits for current attempts to alter dietary fat and carbohydrate intake and control adiposity in humans.
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