Giles Yeo

Why do people eat?

You know, people say, I eat because I'm hungry.

I stop eating because I'm full.

But really, why we eat is our appetite, right?

And appetite is an interesting word.

It's because it's an integrative term which pulls together a number of different concepts.

It pulls together hunger, which we all understand that rumbly feeling in the stomach.

it pulls together fullness, which people think is the opposite to hunger, but actually is regulated by a completely different part of the brain and completely different neurocircuits.

And some people eat because they feel nice, the rewarding elements of it.

And so appetite encompasses hunger, fullness,

and reward.

An appetite sits in the middle of this triangle.

And some people eat because it's more rewarding.

Other people eat because they feel less full.

Other people eat because they're more hungry.

But all three parts of the brain, all three of these different behaviors speak to each other.

That is our appetite.

Oh, okay. I probably don't have as good an answer. Genetics does not have as good an answer about why different people eat differently, aside from cultural differences at the moment. So the genetics. The reason behind that is because it's very difficult to accurately determine what someone has eaten in order to do genetics.

Oh, okay. I probably don't have as good an answer. Genetics does not have as good an answer about why different people eat differently, aside from cultural differences at the moment. So the genetics. The reason behind that is because it's very difficult to accurately determine what someone has eaten in order to do genetics.

What we do know, because we can actually observe, is how people of different ethnicities are susceptible to different diseases. So famously, East Asian people, people that look like me, South Asian people, Indian, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, cannot get as large BMI-wise, before becoming at risk of type 2 diabetes, right?