title: Small changes in meal patterns lead to significant changes in total caloric intake. Effects of diet and social status on food intake in female rhesus monkeys.
abstract: Social subordination in macaques is a well-established model to study the adverse effects of psychosocial stress on a number of health outcomes, including stress-induced eating. The present analysis was conducted to empirically define a meal among free-feeding female rhesus monkeys and to examine the roles of meal patterning (e.g., meal size, meal frequency, and snacking patterns) in findings from a previous study demonstrating that psychosocial stress increases overall caloric intake among subordinate animals with access to a highly palatable diet. Results indicate that all animals, regardless of social status, consumed more frequent meals, larger meals, and more calories in the form of snacks when a highly palatable diet was available. Additional findings suggest that subordinate animals consumed significantly larger meals compared to their dominant counterparts regardless of the dietary environment. Additionally, subordinate females with a history of exposure to the palatable diet consumed significantly more snack calories than both dominant and subordinate animals without previous exposure to the palatable diet when these females were returned to a standard laboratory diet. These findings illustrate how small changes in meal patterns can lead to significant increases in total caloric intake, which if prolonged, could promote the emergence of an obese phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental & Cognitive Neuroscience, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States. cjmoor4@emory.edu
authors.forename: Carla J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lowe
authors.forename: Vasiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Michopoulos
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ulam
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Toufexis
authors.forename: Mark E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Zachary
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology*; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D062407:Meals / Q000523:psychology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012931:Social Environment; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013649:Taste