PSYCH-UA 1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Adipose Tissue, Adipocyte, Eating Animals
6 Oct 2016
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The survival of every animal requires an adequate supply of energy and nutrients. These are provided through the process of digestion, through which nutrients from food are converted into energy that supplies body heat, enables the muscles to contract, and supports all our other life functions. Animals have a body-weight set point that they seek to maintain. If they are temporarily deprived of food, they"ll eat more later. If they are force-fed extra food, they"ll eat less later. The right amount here refers not to the volume of food but to the number of calories in the food--hence, the metabolic energy it can provide. Demonstrated in adolph"s study in 1947 (found that the more diluted the food, the more the rats ate, in a quantity that kept their total caloric intake roughly constant. Similar claims apply to humans, with the data indicating that humans seem to have a target weight that their bodies work homeostatically to maintain.
