Behavioural analysis of feeding: implications for the pharmacological manipulation of food intake in animals and man

Abstract 1. Certain techniques have been described for the behavioural characterization of the effects of drugs on feeding. These techniques are designed to reveal the way in which feeding behaviour is organised by examining the micro- and macro- structure of eating activities. 2. In rats, results have a) revealed a behavioural profile of amphetamine anorexia, b) permitted a differentiation between the ways in which differing groups of pharmacological agents adjust food intake by altering the elements of feeding behaviour and c) drawn attention to the way in which anorexic drugs may reduce food intake by intervening in a natural system which matches food intake to energy demands or by merely obstructing normal feeding responses. 3. In human studies the techniques have been used for two purposes: First to distinguish between the inhibitory actions on food intake of different anorexic drugs, and second to illustrate how long-term drug administration (e.g. phenothiazine treatment in psychotic patients) may promote weight gain by adjusting the basic pattern of feeding.