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ARS Home » Plains Area » Grand Forks, North Dakota » Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center » Healthy Body Weight Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #122064
Title: DOES THE BODY KNOW BEST?

Author
item Roughead, Zamzam

Submitted to: Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/21/2001
Publication Date: 9/1/2001
Citation: Roughead, Z.K. 2001. Does the body know best? Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism. 12:329-330.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The popular use of calcium as a fortificant and a dietary supplement is a testimony to the public's perception of its importance for health. As the fifth most abundant element in the body, calcium is a vital nutrient with tight homeostatic control. Although a great deal is known about the physiological regulation of calcium homeostasis, very little is known about the behavioral aspects of this control. In a book, Jay Schulkin attempts to answer the question: Is there an internal appetite or hunger for calcium? Schulkin states that variations in diet can influence behavior such as the observation that sodium-deficient rats will find hypertonic solutions like sea water more palatable, whereas rats with adequate sodium levels will reject seawater. Schulkin summarizes by concluding that there is an appetite for calcium under conditions of calcium depletion or loss, and that evolution has selected behavioral mechanisms in addition to physiological mechanisms to defend the internal milieu. Schulkin notes that, during the menstrual period, appetite and sodium consumption is decreased and that preference for sweet tastes is increased. During pregnancy, fruits are craved by black women more than white or Indian women. He concludes that,'Calcium ingestion is one example of that paradigm, where behavior and physiology converge in the defense of internal milieu. And that the study of calcium homeostasis allows us to assimilate the new findings in molecular biology, melding behavioral and physiological regulation with clinical medicine.' He seems to have missed a great opportunity to suggest an agenda for future research. Appreciation for the behavioral control of food selection and intake, will broaden the nutritionist's understanding of complexities of nutrition as a science.