Satiating efficiency and a strategy for conducting food loading experiments.

The general hypothesis is proposed that foods vary along a small number of dimensions, such as nutrient composition, energy content, or weight, each of which makes a potentially measurable, but presently unknown, contribution to the satiation process. Because of the differential contributions of each of these dimensions (or factors), foods will vary in the effectiveness with which they induce satiety. Predictions of this hypothesis can best be tested by using the preloading strategy, in which preloads, varied along one dimension at a time, are given on different occasions in amounts which vary along the dimension being studied, and the experimental subject is permitted to eat the test meal following the preload until satiated. The contribution of that dimension is then assessed by the equation relating intake of the test meal to the magnitude of preload along the chosen dimension. The negative of the slope of the intake-preload equation is an index we call "satiating efficiency" of the magnitude of the satiating effect per unit of the chosen dimension. The satiating efficiency therefore provides a method of comparing the ability of different foods to induce satiety, along any dimension. This strategy can be used theoretically to measure the contribution of various dimensions of food to satiety. Practically it could be used to improve the satiating efficiency of foods designed for appetite control, by incorporating into the food, components which are high in satiating efficiency per unit of energy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)