Metabolic control of food intake.

A specific biochemical mechanism for the metabolic control of food intake has not been identified. However, a theory based on a signal generated from the oxidation of metabolic fuels and detected in the liver offers a powerful, integrative framework that helps explain a number of phenomena related to feeding behavior. In addition to providing a metabolic basis for the formation of conditioned food flavor preferences, a control of food intake by fuel oxidation provides a mechanism for overeating in the dynamic phase of obesity and hyperphagia produced by high-fat diets.