Why Do We Feel Hungry?

Many people think that we feel hungry because of our empty stomach but this is wrong. A person, who is suffering from fever, does not feel hungry as they may have an empty stomach. Also a newly born child does not feel hungry for many days. Let us study why we feel hungry.

When the nutritive material of food gets deficient in the blood then our body sent a message to our brain through nerves. While doing our routine work, energy gets utilized, this instead causes loss of nutritive material in the blood. Where as a sick person being in the state of rest consume less energy. Thus he doesn’t feel hungry for many days. The hunger centre of the brain receives a message when the nutritive material gets deficient in the blood. The hunger centre helps to control the working of the stomach and intestine. When the level of nutritive materials reaches its normal level, it puts a brake on the activities of the intestines and stomach. On the other hand stomach and intestines become active, if there is lack of nutrition. Because of this reason stomach rumbling can be heard by you when you are hungry.

A hungry person does not demand a special kind of food. He will eat any sort of food. Carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, fats, vitamins and water are the main constituents present in food. Each constituent plays important role in our food. Proteins are used for the growth and repair of tissues and muscles of the body, fats and carbohydrates give energy to our body, minerals help to build tissues and bones and vitamins help to protect our body from diseases.

Water is the main constituent of food which carries oxygen and nutritive substances to all parts of the body. We can become sick because of the deficiency of these substances. Therefore we conclude that the main cause of hunger is the deficiency of nutritive substances in the blood.