Effect of meal pattern during food restriction on body weight loss and recovery after refeeding

The present study was designed to assess whether the pattern of meal feeding and the degree of caloric restriction have an effect on the body weights and refeeding patterns of restricted 4-month-old Long-Evans rats, relative to ad lib-fed controls. Four experimental groups of rats (n = 6 each) were put on different paradigms of food restriction, and a fifth group fed ad lib throughout served as controls. Twelve rats were restricted to receiving 50% of their mean baseline food intake, and 12 rats received only 70% of their baseline food intake. Each experimental group was further subdivided with one subgroup receiving all of their calories in one meal/day and the other with caloric intake equally divided into two meals/day. There was no statistical difference in the final body weights of the restricted groups. Although there appeared to be identical patterns of weight regain, none of the restricted groups ever reached the mean body weight of the controls because of an asymptotic leveling off of rate of body weight regain. Rats that had received 50% of baseline calories as two meals/day had significantly more adipose mass than did any other group. The present findings suggest that in the rat, refeeding and, hence, regulation, occurs to normalize rate of weight gain rather than absolute body weight.