Altered feeding patterns in rats exposed to a palatable cafeteria diet: increased snacking and its implications for development of obesity.

<h4>Background</h4>Rats prefer energy-rich foods over chow and eat them to excess. The pattern of eating elicited by this diet is unknown. We used the behavioral satiety sequence to classify an eating bout as a meal or snack and compared the eating patterns of rats fed an energy rich caf...

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Main Authors: Sarah I Martire, Nathan Holmes, R Fred Westbrook, Margaret J Morris
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23565243/?tool=EBI
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spelling doaj-4e77fadf12a4460a96d52b55b814e0f52021-03-03T23:30:58ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-0184e6040710.1371/journal.pone.0060407Altered feeding patterns in rats exposed to a palatable cafeteria diet: increased snacking and its implications for development of obesity.Sarah I MartireNathan HolmesR Fred WestbrookMargaret J Morris<h4>Background</h4>Rats prefer energy-rich foods over chow and eat them to excess. The pattern of eating elicited by this diet is unknown. We used the behavioral satiety sequence to classify an eating bout as a meal or snack and compared the eating patterns of rats fed an energy rich cafeteria diet or chow.<h4>Methods</h4>Eight week old male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to lab chow or an energy-rich cafeteria diet (plus chow) for 16 weeks. After 5, 10 and 15 weeks, home-cage overnight feeding behavior was recorded. Eating followed by grooming then resting or sleeping was classified as a meal; whereas eating not followed by the full sequence was classified as a snack. Numbers of meals and snacks, their duration, and waiting times between feeding bouts were compared between the two conditions.<h4>Results</h4>Cafeteria-fed rats ate more protein, fat and carbohydrate, consistently ingesting double the energy of chow-fed rats, and were significantly heavier by week 4. Cafeteria-fed rats tended to take multiple snacks between meals and ate fewer meals than chow-fed rats. They also ate more snacks at 5 weeks, were less effective at compensating for snacking by reducing meals, and the number of snacks in the majority of the cafeteria-fed rats was positively related to terminal body weights.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Exposure to a palatable diet had long-term effects on feeding patterns. Rats became overweight because they initially ate more frequently and ultimately ate more of foods with higher energy density. The early increased snacking in young cafeteria-fed rats may represent the establishment of eating habits that promote weight gain.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23565243/?tool=EBI
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Sarah I Martire
Nathan Holmes
R Fred Westbrook
Margaret J Morris
spellingShingle Sarah I Martire
Nathan Holmes
R Fred Westbrook
Margaret J Morris
Altered feeding patterns in rats exposed to a palatable cafeteria diet: increased snacking and its implications for development of obesity.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Sarah I Martire
Nathan Holmes
R Fred Westbrook
Margaret J Morris
author_sort Sarah I Martire
title Altered feeding patterns in rats exposed to a palatable cafeteria diet: increased snacking and its implications for development of obesity.
title_short Altered feeding patterns in rats exposed to a palatable cafeteria diet: increased snacking and its implications for development of obesity.
title_full Altered feeding patterns in rats exposed to a palatable cafeteria diet: increased snacking and its implications for development of obesity.
title_fullStr Altered feeding patterns in rats exposed to a palatable cafeteria diet: increased snacking and its implications for development of obesity.
title_full_unstemmed Altered feeding patterns in rats exposed to a palatable cafeteria diet: increased snacking and its implications for development of obesity.
title_sort altered feeding patterns in rats exposed to a palatable cafeteria diet: increased snacking and its implications for development of obesity.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2013-01-01
description <h4>Background</h4>Rats prefer energy-rich foods over chow and eat them to excess. The pattern of eating elicited by this diet is unknown. We used the behavioral satiety sequence to classify an eating bout as a meal or snack and compared the eating patterns of rats fed an energy rich cafeteria diet or chow.<h4>Methods</h4>Eight week old male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to lab chow or an energy-rich cafeteria diet (plus chow) for 16 weeks. After 5, 10 and 15 weeks, home-cage overnight feeding behavior was recorded. Eating followed by grooming then resting or sleeping was classified as a meal; whereas eating not followed by the full sequence was classified as a snack. Numbers of meals and snacks, their duration, and waiting times between feeding bouts were compared between the two conditions.<h4>Results</h4>Cafeteria-fed rats ate more protein, fat and carbohydrate, consistently ingesting double the energy of chow-fed rats, and were significantly heavier by week 4. Cafeteria-fed rats tended to take multiple snacks between meals and ate fewer meals than chow-fed rats. They also ate more snacks at 5 weeks, were less effective at compensating for snacking by reducing meals, and the number of snacks in the majority of the cafeteria-fed rats was positively related to terminal body weights.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Exposure to a palatable diet had long-term effects on feeding patterns. Rats became overweight because they initially ate more frequently and ultimately ate more of foods with higher energy density. The early increased snacking in young cafeteria-fed rats may represent the establishment of eating habits that promote weight gain.
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23565243/?tool=EBI
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