Mrosovsky N, Sherry D F
Science. 1980 Feb 22;207(4433):837-42. doi: 10.1126/science.6928327.
Eating very little in the presence of food or failure to serach for food has been documented in various species during the hibernation season, incubation, molting, and defense of the territory or harem. At these times feeding competes with other, more important activities. One way to avoid conflicts between feeding and these other activities to lower the programmed weight or set-point for body fat. Experiments on mammalian hibernators and incubating birds provide evidence that set-points are indeed lowered. Failure to eat in these two examples depends on anorexia, loss of appetite. A review of other examples suggests that conceptualization in terms of lowered set-points provides a unified and testable way of understanding many naturally occurring instances of fasting in the animal kingdom. Finally, spontaneous animal anorexias are contrasted with attempts by people to lose weight.
在冬眠季节、孵卵期、换羽期以及领地或妻妾保卫期，多种物种都有进食极少或不觅食的记录。在这些时期，进食会与其他更重要的活动产生竞争。避免进食与其他活动冲突的一种方法是降低设定体重或体脂设定点。对哺乳动物冬眠者和孵卵鸟类的实验提供了设定点确实降低的证据。在这两个例子中不进食取决于厌食，即食欲丧失。对其他例子的综述表明，从降低设定点的角度进行概念化，为理解动物王国中许多自然发生的禁食情况提供了一种统一且可检验的方式。最后，将动物的自发性厌食与人类的减肥尝试进行了对比。
