Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction and overview -- Cortical systems involved in appetite and food consumption -- Nucleus accumbens shell as a model of integrative subcortical forebrain systems regulating food intake -- Hypothalamic neuropeptides and feeding regulation -- Brainstem-hypothalamic neuropeptides and the regulation of feeding -- Gut-brain axis in the control of eating -- Integration of peripheral adiposity signals and psychological controls of appetite -- Brain reward systems for food incentives and hedonics in normal appetite and eating disorders -- Pharmacology of food, taste and learned flavor preferences -- Role of palatability in control of human appetite: implications for understanding and treating obesity -- Learned influences on appetite, food choice, and intake: evidence in human beings -- Gene environment interactions and the origin of the modern obesity epidemic: a novel nonadaptive drift scenario -- Preclinical developments in antiobesity drugs -- Clinical investigations of antiobesity drugs.