title: Does short-term diet restriction in mice precipitate the development of anorexia?
abstract: Anorexia nervosa (AN) inevitably begins with dieting. Yet, it is unknown whether anyone who will ultimately suffer from anorexia is already ill upon "going on a diet", or whether disease begins during, and is perhaps triggered by, dieting. The objective of the following study was to precipitate anorexia by imposing diet restriction on animals, as a model for generating AN in humans. Three hundred young female Sabra mice were diet restricted to 40% of daily nutrient requirements for 12 days, lost 17% of body weight and were then re-fed ad-lib. All mice regained appetite and weight. Our conclusions are that diet restriction does not precipitate anorexia in mice. Our findings do not support a role for diet restriction per se in triggering AN.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, PO Box 12000, Jerusalem 91120, Israel. bonneo@intra.nimh.nih.gov
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bonne
authors.forename: Yosepha
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Avraham
authors.forename: Eitan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bachar
authors.forename: Maor
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: Elliot M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Berry
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000855:Anorexia / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D005508:Food Deprivation; D051379:Mice; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D015431:Weight Loss