Meeting nutrient requirements: the roles of power and efficiency

Conclusions We have attempted to illustrate the importance of nutrient transfer functions and their key quantitative parameters, power and efficiency. While this brief account has focused on one aspect of nutritional behaviour, the duration of intermeal intervals, the models are equally useful for understanding other components of feeding behaviour such as meal size and food switching. Like-wise, they provide a framework for formulating quantitative predictions about the dynamics of the physiological processes involved in digestion, absorption and the utilisation of food. These aspects are dealt with more fully elsewhere.