Appetite and Food Intake: Central Control, Second Edition

Obesity is a global health issue that people outside the field may have outdated perspectives on. Research has shown us that many factors beyond keeping a balance between energy intake and expenditure, regulates weight gain; but there is still a lot left to understand. Ruth Harris gives us a comprehensive look at two factors that are related to this broad topic: appetite and food intake. This book does a great job at showing its readers current research from a systems level down to the genetic level across basic and clinical labs as well as different models of study. Each chapter will not only present you what is current in the different research topics outlined, but they also provide a historic background on the topic for better understanding. Additionally, some chapters also focus on the new tools or therapies being developed because of current basic and clinical work. Since professionals in the topic write each chapter, the book is very easy to follow; it also helps that the prose used is not highly specialized, meaning that readers that are less familiar with the topic will still be able to understand. The target audience of Appetite and Food Intake can be broad because of this as well. For example, this book can serve as a thorough review for students emerging into the field of obesity, appetite control, and energy balance for their own research and thesis. Furthermore, this book should cater to health professionals interested in the topic as well, it will give them a much broader sense of the different mechanisms and systems at play in these specific behaviors. In summary, this book is well organized; it serves as a thorough review that looks at different forms of research tackling the same topic, giving the reader a holistic view on what is current in appetite and food intake. Because of this, the book is a must for those interested in studying these topics more deeply in their own research, or health-related field of work. Gabriela Bosque Ortiz Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program Yale University