• Question: Do you relate chickens to humans in any way?

    Asked by jbrown to Louise on 15 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Louise Pendry

      Louise Pendry answered on 15 Mar 2010:


      Hi! Yes – absolutely – my boss would shoot me if I said no as he is fascinated by the potential wider research implications!
      The question of how diet affects satiety is relevant not just to hungry broilers but to obese humans (and their obese pets)- can we find foodstuffs that allow people to reduce their energy intake while ‘feeling full’? This could allow people and animals to more successfully diet as they won’t feel hungry (or so hungry) while doing so. Its well known that one of the reasons why people fail to diet succesfully is hunger. When losing weight it is necessary to consume less energy than your body actually needs. This way your body has to use its own energy reserves to keep going. This means you lose weight. But, it also means that you feel hungry as your body is sending your brain messages that it is not getting enough energy. But different food types have a different ability to make you feel full even if they provide the same amount of energy.

      We assume that animals and people that are on a diet (eating less energy then their body wants) will prefer foods that make them feel full as hunger is not a pleasant sensation. But the research in this area is missing so scientists don’t know for sure how to create ‘the perfect diet for dieters’ – a diet that dieters actually prefer to eat so that they manage to stick to the diet and ‘feel good’ when on it.

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