Thermogenic effects of a "cafeteria" diet on the rat during its reproductive cycle

The heat production and oxygen consumption of intact virgin, pregnant, lactating and postlactating rats has been investigated both in groups fed a "cafeteria" diet as well as in controls. A third group of rats fed the cafeteria diet after parturition has been investigated. Pregnant rats fed a "cafeteria" diet increased their weight faster than controls. During lactation no increases in weight were observed, and in postlactation both "cafeteria" groups attained the same values higher than controls. The ingestion of a "cafeteria" diet resulted in higher heat production in all groups except lactating rats, which--in addition--showed higher heat outputs than all the other groups when the actual data were corrected by metabolic weight according to the surface law. The high lactation heat production (and oxygen consumption) can be a consequence of increased metabolic activity in the rat organism, devoted to milk production. It can be concluded that during lactation the dam energy output through the milk must absorb any increases in energy input due to the more densely-packed energy in the "cafeteria" diet, and this did not result in increased heat production.