Relations between enzyme activities connected with energy metabolism and parameters of food energy utilization in young and adult rats. Part 1. Studies on dietary effects on weight, body composition and energy gain.

Abstract

Weaned male Wistar rats were fed ad libitum besides standard pellets a normal-protein (NP), a low-protein (LP) and a high-fat (HF) diet for different periods of time. In comparison to rats on the NP diet the body weight of the LP group was significantly lower after seven weeks feeding, not after a duration of about forty weeks. No remarkable diet-related differences were detected by determination of the mean body composition and of the relative gross energy content of the body neither after seven nor forty weeks. Total gross energy intake was practically identical both for the NP and LP rats irrespective on the duration of the feeding period. A significantly lower quotient of body energy gain/total gross energy intake under the protein-restrictive LP diet after seven weeks suggests the expression of an energy dissipation obviously no longer visible after a long time feeding period.