Hunger and satiety: a multidimensional assessment of responses to caloric loads

The assessment of hunger in human subjects is complicated by the variety of response systems involved. In the present study, hunger was tracked by subjective, physiological and behavioural responses after identical-tasting high or low calorie preloads. The contribution of nutritional and psychological factors was evaluated by giving half the subjects false information about the caloric content of the preload. Ten women took part, with all subjects participating in each experimental condition and a control condition, in counter-balanced order. The results showed that ratings of hunger symptoms, preferred foods, global hunger and satiety in the inter-meal interval were sensitive both to deprivation effects and to differences in the energy content of the preload. No effects of the psychological manipulation (beliefs about caloric content) were observed. At the test meal two hours later, all the subjective responses converged on a single point and physiological and behavioural responses likewise failed to discriminate the different preload conditions. The results are discussed in terms of a loosely-coupled multidimensional model of hunger.