AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 263, Issue 4 852-R856, Copyright © 1992 by American Physiological Society
Does reducing the rate or efficiency of digestion reduce food intake?
I. Ramirez
Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-3308.
Two strains of rats (Charles River CD and Lewis) were fed high-moisture
(71% water) diets containing 50-300 mg acarbose/kg dry diet for 1-3 wk.
Acarbose impaired carbohydrate digestion in both strains, as evidenced by
increased fecal excretion and increased intestinal contents. For both
strains the highest dose of acarbose tended to stimulate food intake,
whereas an intermediate dose (100 mg/kg) inhibited food intake. The lowest
dose (50 mg/kg) had no significant effect. In general the food
intake-promoting effect of acarbose was more pronounced in CD rats, whereas
the food intake-inhibiting effect of acarbose was more pronounced in Lewis
rats. To determine whether increased intestinal bulk, due to undigested
food, was responsible for the reduced food intake, another experiment was
conducted in which Lewis rats were fed diets containing 5-25% cellulose.
Although this level of cellulose should have increased fecal bulk to the
same degree as acarbose, cellulose increased rather than decreased food
intake. It is proposed that the presence of incompletely digested food in
the digestive tract can inhibit food intake for several days. Because
manipulating diet moisture altered energy intake without altering
percentage of food excreted as feces, it is proposed that acarbose and diet
moisture alter food intake by different mechanisms.
