Does the hunger meter decrease at a constant rate?

Question

In Minecraft 1.8 there is a new hunger meter that decreases over time.

Does this meter decrease at a fixed rate, or do certain activities like mining or sprinting cause it to decrease faster?

Answer

Minecraft now basically counts your calories. Each action takes a toll on your body; for example:

Action                   CostWalking                  1 meat icon every 800 meters
Sprinting                1 meat icon every 80 meters
Jumping                  1 meat icon every 40 jumps
Sprint jumping           1 meat icon every 20 jumps
Mining                   1 meat icon every 320 blocks

However, meat icons only tell half the story. Eating food does not only replenish the visible health bar, but also an hidden 'saturation' bar, and both max out at 20 (a meat icon is two points). Actions drain "saturation points" before "food points." Eating adds to both, but any saturation point in excess of your food points will be discarded. For example, a golden apple will give you 10 food points and 20 saturation points, but eat that with an empty stomach and you'll only reap two thirds of the benefit (0+0 → 10+20 → 10+10).

This is why the health bar does not go immediately down as you start playing: you're consuming your saturation points.

Food that will give you full benefit every time is raw meat, watermelons, apples, cookies and cake. More processed food, such as mushroom stew, cooked meat and golden apples will need at least a few meat icons to give you the full effect.

An additional note on rotten flesh. Food poisoning takes 15 points slowly; rotten flesh gives you 4.8 immediately. If you want to get any benefit at all, you'll want to eat 4+ pieces in quick succession.

More information here.

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