Food intake by brain-injured humans who are in the chronic phase of recovery.

This study examined whether survivors of traumatic brain injury differ from normal, non-injured controls in the regulation of food intake in their natural environment. Caregivers of 20 brain-injured subjects and 20 controls recorded in diaries: caloric intake, time of meals, subjective hunger ratings, and the number of persons present during meals for 7 consecutive days. Brain-injured subjects ate larger meals and more total (overall) calories per day compared with controls. In addition, the presence of other people during a meal, or social factor, was a significant predictor of meal size for the control subjects, but not for the brain-injured subjects. Brain-injured subjects also differed from control subjects in their response to pre-meal stomach content.