title: The short-term effects of soft pellets on lipogenesis and insulin sensitivity in rats.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the short-term effects of a 12-day, soft pellet (SP) diet with a 3-h restricted feeding schedule on caloric intake, body weight, lipid metabolism, and insulin sensitivity. Glucose and insulin levels were measured pre-, mid-, and post-feeding. The SP rats exhibited postprandial hyperglycemia compared to rats fed control pellets (CP). The insulin response of SP rats during a meal was significantly higher than that of CP rats. There were no significant differences in the hepatic triacylglycerol contents and lipogenesis gene mRNA levels of SP and CP rats. However, the hepatocytes of SP rats were slightly hypertrophic. In addition, histological analysis revealed that the pancreases of SP rats had more islet areas than those of CP rats. This study demonstrated that feeding an SP-only diet for 12 days induces glucose intolerance, suggesting that the consumption of absorbable food, like a soft diet, may trigger glucose metabolism insufficiency and lead to life-threatening diseases.
authors.affiliation: Frontier Science Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan ; Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Chonbuk National University, Jeonbuk 561-756, Korea.
authors.forename: Cho-Rong
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.affiliation: Frontier Science Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.affiliation: Frontier Science Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan.
authors.forename: Sayaka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akieda-Asai
authors.affiliation: Frontier Science Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan.
authors.forename: Yurie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Chonbuk National University, Jeonbuk 561-756, Korea.
authors.forename: Youn-Soo
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.affiliation: Frontier Science Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki 889-1692, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukari
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Date
keywords: insulin sensitivity; lipogenesis; short-term feeding; soft pellets