Dilutions of low- vs. high-fat diets on intakes and gastric volumes in rats

• Published in: Physiology & behavior Vol. 72; no. 3; pp. 325 - 337
• Main Authors: Meyer, James H, Elashoff, Janet D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Elsevier Inc 01.02.2001; New York, NY Elsevier
• Subjects: Adaptation; Animals; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Body Weight - drug effects; Compensation; Diet; Dietary Fats - pharmacology; Eating - drug effects; Energy Intake - drug effects; Fat; Feces; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gastric distension; Gastric Emptying - drug effects; Male; Miscellaneous; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Satiety; Sensation; Stomach - anatomy & histology; Stomach - drug effects; Sensation; Fat; Satiety; Gastric distension; Compensation; Adaptation; Stomach; Feeding behavior; Rat; Digestive system; Rodentia; Energy input; Feeding; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Diet; Food intake; Volume; Animal; Nutrient
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0031-9384(00)00419-4

Rats adapt to changes in dietary energy to maintain nearly constant energy intakes. This regulation indicates that animals sense and respond to nutrient content. We sought to determine whether this response was affected by the fat content of the diet. Our second goal was to determine how energy dilution affected intragastric volumes. Rats were randomized to high (18% w/w) and low fat (4.5% w/w) as the energy density of the diet was altered from 2.0 to 3.5 kcal/g. Average energy intake during 7-h feeds rose steeply ( P<.01) when density was increased from 2.0 to 3.0 kcal/g, but modestly as density increased from 3.0 to 3.5 kcal/g. In other rats on 18% vs. 32% fat diets, energy intakes increased significantly ( P<.01) as density of the diet was raised from 3.5 to 4.5 kcal/g. During diets at 2.0 and 2.5 kcal/g, animals on 18% fat ate fewer kilocalories than those on 4.5% fat; but over 3.0–4.5 kcal/g, energy intake was similar regardless of fat concentration (4.5–32%). Gastric contents after 7-h feeds increased with grams of food ingested similarly for high- and low-fat diets. We concluded that in rats: (a) compensation to energy dilution or concentration was inexact but (b) was about equal for high- vs. low-fat diets; thus, high fat was as well sensed as high carbohydrate; (c) compensations for energy densities were made despite varied gastric volumes; thus, rats learned to override the stimulus of gastric stretch and to sense energy via extra gastric mechanisms.