When does sucrose increase appetite and adiposity?
Two methods of sucrose feeding have been employed in studies with rodents. In the nutritional method, part or all of the starch in a diet is replaced with sucrose. In the solution method, animals maintained on a nutritionally complete diet are given a sucrose solution to drink. The solution method is generally a more effective and reliable method of producing obesity except for weanling rodents. These two methods yield different results with regard to interactions with the fat and protein content of the diet, efficiency of weight gain, disaccharide effects and effects of meal feeding. It is suggested that for the nutritional method, sucrose alters food intake and adiposity via its effects on fat oxidation. For the solution method, the critical factor may be presenting a wet source of calories rather than sucrose per se. Differences in the way sucrose is fed do not account for all divergent results. Different investigators conducting similar experiments have often obtained different results. For these and other reasons, animal studies do not support the idea that sucrose intake causes obesity in humans.
Ramirez
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Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
D000818:Animals; D001066:Appetite / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D013395:Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism*
D013395:Sucrose