Elsevier

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 81, Issue 5, July 2004, Pages 755-764
Physiology & Behavior

Energy density, diet composition and palatability: influences on overall food energy intake in humans

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2004.04.027Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper considers the role of energy density (ED), diet composition and palatability in the control of energy intake (EI) in humans through several related considerations: (i) the relationship between ED and diet composition, (ii) the relationship between ED, diet composition and EI, (iii) the relationship between palatability and EI, (iv) the relationship between ED, palatability and EI, (v) the importance of postingestive factors in influencing palatability in the longer term, (vi) the contribution of sensory and nutritional factors to dietary hyperphagia and (vii) the implications these considerations have for people living their normal lives in their natural environment.

The main factors influencing ED are the fat and water content of foods. Energy density does elevate EI, especially in short-term studies where it can account for >40% of the variance in EI. In real life, ED accounts for only approximately 7% of the variance in EI. This is because the determinants of EI are multifactorial and also because the short-term effects of ED on EI do not translate into the longer term. We argue that part of the longer term amelioration of short-term effects of ED on EI is due to learned compensation, based on the postingestive consequences of consuming familiar food that differ in ED. More energy-dense foods tend to be more palatable but we learn to consume them in smaller portion sizes. In the longer term, the perceived palatability of a food is strongly influenced by the postingestive consequences of eating it. This effect can override sensory factors alone. This implies that nutrient mimetics, if used continuously, would not be as efficacious as initially supposed and that their ad hoc use may undermine the stability of learned appetites and satieties for foods with different EDs and contribute to the poor weight control capability exhibited by consumers at large.

Introduction

The diet we eat has changed considerably since the Second World War. It is frequently considered axiomatic that the ready availability of a huge variety of energy-dense, palatable food is responsible for the current secular trends in obesity and attendant diseases. In the last two decades, a large amount of work has been conducted examining the role of diet composition in appetite and energy balance control [1]. We now have a clearer idea of the nutritional attributes of the diet that tend to elevate energy intake (EI). The increased availability of readily assimilated carbohydrates mixed with dietary fat appears to have some role at least in elevating EI [2]. Recently, considerable attention has focused on how the energy density (ED) of the diet is involved in these processes [3], [4], [5]. The role palatability plays in promoting excess EI is far less clear. The purpose of this paper is to consider the role of ED, diet composition and palatability in the control of EI in humans. These issues are bedevilled by what is often deemed to be common sense or anecdotally obvious relationships between ED, diet composition, palatability of foods and the amount of food eaten. Their relationship to longer term energy balance is even less clear.

This paper aims to disentangle some of these issues by breaking down the main theme into a number of discrete considerations. These are (i) the relationship between ED and diet composition, (ii) the relationship between ED, diet composition and EI, (iii) the relationship between palatability and EI, (iv) the relationship between ED, palatability and EI, (v) the importance of postingestive factors in influencing learned appetites and perceived pleasantness (palatability) of foods in the longer term, (vi) the contribution of sensory and nutritional factors to dietary hyperphagia and (vii) the implications these considerations have for people living their normal lives in their natural environment.

Section snippets

Definitions

For the purposes of this paper, diet is defined as water (g), protein (MJ), carbohydrate (MJ), fat (MJ) energy (MJ), ED (MJ/kg) and amount of food eaten (kg). Dietary fibre and inorganic constituents can also have an influence on ED of the diet eaten. ED is defined as the energy per kilogram of wet weight of ready-to-eat food. There is considerable debate as to the definition of palatability. The reader is referred to an in-depth discussion of this issue [6], [7], [8]. For the purposes of this

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the European Commission, Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources, Key action 1 ‘Food, nutrition and health’ programme (QLK1-2000-00515).

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