Food preferences and aversions in human health and nutrition: how can pigs help the biomedical research?

Abstract

The establishment of food preferences and aversions determines the modulation of eating behaviour and the optimization of food intake. These phenomena rely on the learning and memory abilities of the organism and depend on different psychobiological mechanisms such as associative conditionings and sociocultural influences. After summarizing the various behavioural and environmental determinants of the establishment of food preferences and aversions, this paper describes several issues encountered in human nutrition when preferences and aversions become detrimental to health: development of eating disorders and obesity, aversions and anorexia in chemotherapy-treated or elderly patients and poor palatability of medical substances and drugs. Most of the relevant biomedical research has been performed in rodent models, although this approach has severe limitations, especially in the nutritional field. Consequently, the final aim of this paper is to discuss the use of the pig model to investigate the behavioural and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the establishment of food preferences and aversions by reviewing the literature supporting analogies at multiple levels (general physiology and anatomy, sensory sensitivity, digestive function, cognitive abilities, brain features) between pigs and humans.Keywords: pig, conditioned learning, eating behaviour, animal model, biomedical applications ImplicationsInvestigation of the behavioural and neurophysiological mechanisms of the establishment of food preferences and aversions can lead to important developments in the context of human nutrition and health. Because the rodent models are not always adequate in this field, there is a need to develop alternative experimental models. Pigs have numerous similarities with humans in terms of the physiology, anatomy, sensory sensitivity, cognitive abilities and brain functions. The aim of this paper is to promote the use of pigs for biomedical research in human nutrition. IntroductionFeeding is a complex behaviour, which can be described as 'the research and consumption of food and drink to maintain vital functions ' (Bellisle, 1999) and to 'fulfil the metabolic needs of the organism ' (Ferreira, 2004). Today, it is also well acknowledged that a high proportion of human food consumption in developed countries appears to be driven by pleasure (for a review, see Lowe and Butryn, 2007) and sociocultural influences. Food consumption is also involved in fundamental metabolic homeostasis regulation, as it controls the supply of energy and nutrients in the organism (Bellisle, 1999). According to Ferreira (2004), feeding behaviour implies that animals learn to consume high-energy foods and to avoid toxic foods. Establishment of food selection implies that, during its first experience with food, the organism memorizes the sensorial characteristics of the food (e.g. taste, odour, texture and visual cues) and the postingestive consequences of its ingestion, and associates these food characteristics with these consequences (Garcia et ...

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