Influence of Alterations in Meal Frequency on Lipogenesis and Body Fat Content in the Rat

Abstract

It has been shown in numerous experiments that rats trained to consume their food in a short daily period (meal-eaters) are more efficient in converting food energy to body energy than animals allowed diet ad libitum (nibbler). If the meal-eater is force-fed a quantity of food equal to that consumed by the nibbler, the meal-eater will accumulate more body fat than the nibbler (1-3). If the meal-eater is allowed food for only 2 hr per day, it will consume about 20% less food than the nibbler but will grow at the same rate as the nibbler (4). The reason(s) for the increased energy efficiency observed in meal-fed rats have not been elucidated.It has been suggested that obese humans may have an increased efficiency for converting dietary energy to body energy. Fabry et al. ( 5 ,6) reported that there was an inverse relationship between the number of meals ingested daily and the degree of overweight in 400 adult males. Others (7-lo), however, have failed to observe an effect of meal frequency on body weight changes in humans.Muiruri and Leveille (11) examined the effect of converting rats from meal-eating to nibbling. It was apparent that the previous feeding pattern influenced lipogenic capacity and body weight changes. Rats converted from meal-eating to nibbling gained weight faster and accumulated body fat faster than did control nibbling rats. They also noted that lipogenic enzyme ac-'Supported by AM 15847 from NIH. Journal Article Number 7093, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.

Refeeding meal-fed rats increases lipoprotein lipase activity and deposition of dietary [14C]lipid in white adipose tissue and decreases oxidation to 14CO2. The role of undernutrition

“…Weight and percentage of fat in adipose-tissue depots Although rats fed ad libitum had significantly larger adiposetissue depots and liver, when results were expressed per 100 g carcass wt., differences only persisted in epididymal adipose tissue ( Table 2). As expected from previous work (De Bont et al, 1975), carcass total fat was decreased in the meal-fed rat (Table 2) and remained lower in rats meal-fed for up to 8 weeks (results not shown).…”

“…Although differences in ['4C]lipid accumulation in epididymal and subcutaneous adipose tissue of meal-fed/7-day returned rats were much lower than values obtained for meal-fed rats (P < 0.001), they remained slightly higher than those for rats fed ad libitum (P < 0.05) ( Table 7). Muiruri & Leveille (1970) and De Bont et al (1975) reported that the incorporation of labelled glucose into adipose-tissue lipid in vitro remained higher in meal-fed rats than in rats fed ad libitum, after 3 weeks and 7 weeks return to feeding ad libitum respectively. To determine if the increased rate of lipogenesis in liver and adipose tissue of chow-meal-fed rats in vivo (Pallardo & Williamson, 1989) was also refractory to change of meal pattern, we measured lipogenesis in vivo by the incorporation of 3H20 in meal-fed rats returned to feeding ad libitum for 3 and 7 days ( Table 8).…”

The effect of feeding frequency on insulin and ghrelin responses in human subjects

“…The current literature is mixed with regard to the efficacy of increased feeding frequency (or snacking) regimens in causing or treating metabolic anomalies. A number of studies report a positive impact of increased meal frequency on factors such as lipaemia, thermogenesis and fasting glycaemia ( 16 , 22 , 50 ) , whilst other studies show the opposite ( 19 , 51 , 52 ) and further data show that no differences exist ( 53 , 54 ) . The observation in the present study that increased feeding frequency may disrupt the insulin–ghrelin relationship may be relevant to diminished regulation of ghrelin seen in insulin resistance.…”

Egg White Hydrolysate Can Be a Low-Allergenic Food Material to Suppress Ectopic Fat Accumulation in Rats Fed an Equicaloric Diet

“…Indices of stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) activity (ratios of C16:1/C16:0 and C18:1/C18:0) were calculated. Carcass fat was measured as described by Mickelsen and Anderson (8), and total body fat was calculated using a formula reported by De Bont et al (9). Carcass moisture was measured after drying at 105˚C for 1 h. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) activities of the liver and muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) activity of the liver were measured according to methods previously described (10,11).…”