Central Nervous System Regulation of Eating and Brain Functions

Human eating habit is controlled by the central nervous system (CNS), a process that involves a plethora of molecular associations with numerous tissues, neurotransmitters, neural circuits, and hormones. It is governed by the hedonic and homeostatic systems interaction. Hedonic control is orchestrated through conscious and unconscious reward systems, whereas homeostatic control is governed by food-craving signals from the adipocytes, gut, as well as the vagus nerve. On the one hand, the CNS receives powerful food-related feedback via perception of texture, smell, sight, and taste, which in turn affects brain regions involved in reward produced by feeding. Contrariwise, the nutrients essential in relatively large amounts for growth and health makeup increase the gut’s release of the hunger signal, which the central nervous system translates into unconsciously rewarding activities. This review considers how physiological impulses from the adipocytes, gastrointestinal tracts, and many more engage sets of interacting neural networks spread throughout the brain to bring about the complex motor occurrences that cause animals to eat in order to address the eating and brain functions by the central nervous system.