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Appetite Stimulants

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Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology
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Synonyms

Hunger-mimetics; Hyperphagics; Orexigens

Definition

Appetite stimulants are agents that promote the motivation to eat through actions on psychological, neurochemical, metabolic, or endocrine processes. Their actions may increase hunger and the desire to eat, promote the anticipation of, or craving for food, and/or enhance hedonic responses to the sensory properties of foods. These psychological effects may cause over consumption by increasing the salience of, and attention to, food stimuli and so advance the initiation of eating, or by increasing meal frequency, meal size, or meal duration. Drugs that increase appetite and/or food intake, and that may be used for the amelioration of loss of appetite and body weight associated with illness or radical medical treatments of disease.

Pharmacological Properties

History

Unlike the substantial commercial and academic research efforts that have been devoted to the development of appetite suppressant treatments, relatively few...

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Kirkham, T.C. (2010). Appetite Stimulants. In: Stolerman, I.P. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68706-1_139

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