How and why should we study ingestive behaviors in humans?

The mechanisms that determine food intake behavior in human consumers are more complex than those that govern this behavior in other species. Although “homeostatic” mechanisms that adjust intake to bodily needs do exist in humans as in other animals, the importance of non-homeostatic, mainly hedonistic, influences is much greater in humans. Several psychological characteristics of humans, in addition to their particular social and economic circumstances, play a decisive role in their responses to foods. Given the obesity epidemic that has recently emerged in developed societies, the specific study of factors that determine food ingestion in humans has become particularly urgent. Validated questionnaires and research methods have been developed to investigate the complex interactions of these factors.