Effects of long-term cycling between palatable cafeteria diet and regular chow on intake, eating patterns, and response to saccharin and sucrose

Abstract

When exposed to a diet containing foods that are rich in fat and sugar, rats eat to excess and gain weight. We examined the effects of alternating this diet with laboratory chow on intake of each type of diet, the eating elicited by a palatable food (biscuits), and the drinking elicited by sweet solutions that did (sucrose) or did not (saccharin) contain calories. Each week for 13 weeks, cycled rats were provided with the cafeteria diet for three successive days/nights and the chow diet for the remaining four days/nights, whereas other rats received continuous access to either the cafeteria or the chow diets. On each of the 13 weeks, cycled rats ate more across the first 24 hour exposure to ..