Hunger and hormones determine food's appeal (Medical Xpress) --
Its been said that there are two kinds of eating: eating to
survive, or satisfy hunger, and eating for pleasure. The
pathways in the brain that control each urge have been studied
independently. But now, research by Howard Hughes Medical
Institute investigator Jeffrey M. Friedman of Rockefeller
University provides evidence that the two pathways are closely
intertwined. By activating regions of the brain linked to food-
related pleasure, Friedman and colleagues discovered how the
brain mediates the link between food preferences and hunger.
Their findings were published online November 13, 2011, in the
journal Nature Neuroscience. Appetite based on hunger, Friedman
discovered in the 1990s, is mediated in part by a hormone called
leptin. When a mouse loses weight or is food-deprived, leptin
levels fall, leading to an increase of food intake. Likewise,
leptin levels rise in an animal after weight gain with a
corresponding reduction of food intake. The