Effects of food form on appetite and energy balance

• The cognitive, orosensory and gastrointestinal effects of food form are interlinked.
• The physical form of food is a critical determinant of energy and nutrient bioavailability.
• Food form can influence food choice, appetite, and energy balance.

The sensory properties of food influence food choice, digestion and metabolism. The properties arising from a food’s form, in particular, can alter nutritional outcomes through multiple mechanisms operating at cognitive, orosensory, gastric and intestinal levels of food processing. Expectations regarding a food’s form can influence satiety, sensory ratings of products, digestive processes and post-absorptive metabolism. In the oral cavity, the structure of food influences mastication efforts affecting appetite and energy and nutrient bioavailability in the GI tract. In the GI tract, the physical form of food influences gastric emptying, intestinal transit time and nutrient absorption. Hence, the physical form of food holds important implications for ingestive behavior and health outcomes.