[Sweetened solution intake in albino rats: taste versus calories]

Animals display preferences for sweetened over unsweetened foods under diverse experimental procedures. No evidence has been provided of whether flavor or energetic content of sweeteners determine this preference. In this experiment, female and male rats were exposed to water and a solution sweetened with glucose (sweet taste and calories) and water and a solution sweetened with sucralose (sweet taste without calories). We observed that animals exposed to glucose solution increased the sweetened water intake gradually compared to water intake and animals exposed to sucralose solution maintained equal sweetened water and water intake. This suggests that caloric content affects the increase of intake of sweetened liquids. However, it is important to continue to investigate whether history of taste exposure modifies water-intake response.