Peripheral oscillators: the driving force for food‐anticipatory activity

Food-anticipatory activity (FAA) may involve an oscillating network of brain nuclei interacting with peripheral structures.

• Clock genes alone do not sufficiently explain the mechanisms underlying food entrainment.
• Oscillations in metabolic genes occur in various brain regions and peripheral organs, but these dampen after a few cycles.
• The food-entrained oscillator (FEO) is proposed to consist of various oscillatory processes across central and peripheral systems.
• Food entrainment may be initiated by a repeated metabolic state of scarcity, influencing an oscillating network.
• Evidence suggests that the persistence of FAA does not rely on clock genes or metabolic oscillations.

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