Ilka-

I suggest you take a look at this article:

Appetite control: methodological aspects of the evaluation of foods. Blundell et al

Although hunger can be measured using a VAS- satiety (defined as the absence of eating during the inter meal period), thus self reported measures of appetite (hunger, fullness desire to eat etc) are only proxy measures of satiety.

Say you're looking at the satiety of a food. Experimentally satiety can be measured as the duration until the next eating occasion- or, as this is usually difficult, we often use the amount consumed (ad libitum) a fixed time after the said food. Appetite ratings (hunger fullness etc.) are usually only used as indicators- but they can be inconsistent, and unreliable in predicting subsequent energy intake!

If I read in a journal article that states hormone X stimulates appetite, can this be interpreted also as hunger or should I be critically trying to assign special meaning to one rather than the other?

Not necessarily!

It really depends on the context (and also association does not infer causation!)

Appetite is the motivation to eat- but this is difficult to quantify, so experimenters usually use ask subjects to rate subjective feelings at any given time. Subjects are often asked to rate hunger, fullness desire to eat, prospective consumption etc.usually using VAS at intervals following an experimental manipulation. Some papers combine these ratings (whether rightly or wrongly) in an attempt to give a value to the motivation to eat.

But on the other hand they may simply mean that subjective hunger ratings go up when hormone X goes up. Look at the data: Following the administration of a dose of hormone X, do these ratings change in a way which could be interpreted as an increase in appetite (i.e. increased hunger, reduced fullness etc).

Thank you.

Visual analog scales work but the most reliable is measuring food intake directly. It is important to differentiate between hunger and 'appetite'; ie the kind of eating that makes us want desserts after we are full from the main course. We used a computerized vending machine that delivered snacks all day and night and also made varieties of foods available in preweighed containers that were weighed after subjects finished eating.

I disagree with Judith- in so far as hunger and appetite are different constructs-

I would say more as they are both the same construct (a motivation to eat) but could be driven either by the homeonstatic (need for energy nutrients etc) or hedonic (how much we like/want something)-

The measure of energy intake (when truly ad libitum) is a more useful tool for measuring satiety, especially if you are trying to explain body weight changes.

Basic drives like hunger and appetite are very difficult to measure but we can measure behavior when it comes to eating. We have yet to come up with a meaningful measure of love, yet we can note the behavior of people who seem to be enmeshed in it.

When it comes to food and eating, the type of food you eat also appears to adversely affect brain function. This is especially true when it comes to processed food and this response is likely pathological rather than physiological. Although cravings for sweet and starchy foods are likely hardwired into our brains from evolutionary times, these cravings become hijacked when you consume processed food over a period of time, pushing you to consume more of the very food that is adversely affecting your brain.

Judith—In my experience it is normal to enjoy something sweet after a meal. When people have strong cravings for this type of food it is pathological and is also associated with other symptoms of food-induced brain dysfunction. The term we now use for this condition is Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome.

This new concept would help to explain the evolution of depression over the past 50 years. Years ago, all depressed patients lost their appetite and lost weight—it was a defining symptom of major depression. Now many people with depression have an increased appetite and weight gain. We believe this is CARB syndrome, not true major depression. It appears to be triggered by the long term consumption of highly processed food so the treatment is a change in diet rather than drugs.

Hello,

To mesure hunger, you can take a look to Hill's ladder. For Satiety, i don't know.

I read here that satiety depends of energy intake? That's right but it's not the only factor of satiety. You have to check publish of Blundell. Satiety depends of :

- mechanic system = it depends of the volume of the meal

- cognitive system = it will work if you eat what you like, as you like = hedonism

- pre-absorptive = it mean the hormone reelease at the begining of digestion like GLP-1, CCK, etc...

- post-absorptive = it mean the use of nutrient by cells.