Regulation of Food Intake: Role of the Ventromedial Hypothalamus

Abstract

Considerable experimental evidence strongly implicates the ventromedial region (“satiety center”) of the hypothalamus in adjusting food intake to caloric expenditure so that body weight is maintained within narrow limits. Pertinent studies spanning more than three decades are described. Recent work indicates that the satiety center uses glucose in a manner paralleling its use by the other insulin-sensitive tissues of the organism. This new knowledge of the metabolic signals that affect the functioning of the satiety center gives promise of being important in the clinical management of human obesity.