Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Short Communication
  • Published:

A Pavlovian approach to the problem of obesity

Abstract

During the past 15–20 y, the incidence of overweight and obesity in the United States has grown rapidly. The processes that underlie this alarming trend remain largely unspecified. We hypothesize that degradation of the ability to use certain orosensory cues to predict the caloric consequences of intake may contribute to overeating and excessive weight gain. The results of two preliminary studies with rats are consistent with this hypothesis. In one study, the ability of rat pups to regulate their caloric intake after consuming a novel high-calorie, sweet food was disrupted if they had received prior training with sweet tastes that failed to predict the caloric consequences of eating. Another study found that altering the normal predictive relationship between food viscosity and calories led to increased body weight in adult rats. Dietary factors that degrade the relationship between sweet tastes, food viscosity and calories may contribute to overeating and weight gain.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Purchase on Springer Link

Instant access to full article PDF

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Mokdad AH, Serdula MK, Dietz WH, Bowman BA, Marks JS, Koplan JP . The spread of the obesity epidemic in the United States, 1991–1998. JAMA 1999; 282: 1519–1522.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Rescorla RA, Wagner AR . A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: variation in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. In: Black A, Prokasy W (eds). Classical conditioning II: current research and theory. Appleton-Century-Crofts: New York, 1972, pp 64–99.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Sclafani A . Learned controls of ingestive behavior. Appetite 1997; 9: 53–158.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Picciano MF . Human milk: nutritional aspects of a dynamic food. Biol Neonate 1998; 74: 84–93.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Calorie Control Council National Consumer Surveys. The popularity of low-calorie sugar-free foods and beverages. Calorie Control Council: Atlanta, 2003.

  6. USDA-Economic Research Service (2003). Food consumption (per capita) data system. www.ers.usda.gov/data/foodconsumption/datasystem.

  7. Dennison BA, Rockwell HL, Baker SL . Excess fruit juice consumption by preschool-aged children is associated with short stature, obesity. Pediatrics 1997; 99: 15–22.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. DiMeglio DP, Mattes RD . Liquid versus solid carbohydrate: effects on food intake, body weight. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2000; 24: 794–800.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T L Davidson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Davidson, T., Swithers, S. A Pavlovian approach to the problem of obesity. Int J Obes 28, 933–935 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802660

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802660

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links