The primary function of the ______ is to serve as a storage reservoir for undigested food

Evolutionary Perspective

The phenomenon of sensory-specific satiety has two adaptive consequences. First, it encourages the consumption of a varied diet. If there were no sensory-specific satiety, a person would tend to eat her or his preferred food and nothing else, and the result would be malnutrition. Second, sensory-specific satiety encourages animals that have access to a variety of foods to eat a lot; an animal that has eaten its fill of one food will often begin eating again if it encounters a different one (Raynor & Epstein, 2001). This encourages animals to take full advantage of times of abundance, which are all too rare in nature.

Thinking Creatively

This section has introduced you to several important properties of hunger and eating. How many support the set-point assumption, and how many are inconsistent with it?

Scan Your Brain

Are you ready to move on to the discussion of the physiology of hunger and satiety in the following section? Find out by completing the following sentences with the most appropriate terms. The correct answers are provided at the end of the exercise. Before proceeding, review material related to your incorrect answers and omissions.

1. The primary function of the ______ is to serve as a storage reservoir for undigested food.
2. Most of the absorption of nutrients into the body takes place through the wall of the ______, or upper intestine.
3. The phase of energy metabolism that is triggered by the expectation of food is the ______ phase.
4. During the absorptive phase, the pancreas releases a great deal of ______ into the bloodstream.
5. During the fasting phase, the primary fuels of the body are ______.
6. During the fasting phase, the primary fuel of the brain is ______.
7. The three components of a set-point system are a set-point mechanism, a detector, and an ______.
8. The theory that hunger and satiety are regulated by a blood glucose set point is the ______ theory.
9. Evidence suggests that hunger is greatly influenced by the current ______ value of food.
10. Most humans have a preference for sweet, fatty, and ______ tastes.
11. There are two mechanisms by which we learn to eat diets containing essential vitamins and minerals: one mechanism for ______ and another mechanism for the rest.
12. Satiety that is specific to the particular foods that produce it is called ______ satiety.