The reproducibility of three questions, related to fullness, satiety a
nd desire to eat, rated on an unmarked triangle was verified. In four
sessions 12 volunteers ate pasta with tomato sauce (520 kcal) and were
asked to rate the sensations felt. There was no difference in rating
scores of the replications so the proposed questionnaire provides a st
able measure of sensations related to satiety. Subsequently three sati
ety conditions were studied. Two foods, one rich in carbohydrate, past
a (baked macaroni) and the other in protein, polpette (meatballs), wer
e used as loads at two calorie levels and as preload before an ''ad li
bitum'' meal. All the three questions proved useful in discriminating
between the different satiety conditions. The food intake underlines t
he specificity of satiety: subjects, after eating a preload which prev
iously had satiated them, ate other foods in different amounts dependi
ng on the kind of preload eaten. Food intake was significantly higher
after the pasta preload, furthermore ''fullness'' and ''satiety'' rati
ngs were significantly highest after the meatball preload, suggesting
that in our experimental conditions, meatballs were more satiating tha
n pasta. In conclusion, this study highlights the validity of using se
veral quite different questions to study hunger and satiety, together
with the actual food intake. (C) 1995 Academic Press Limited