Relationship Between Food Intake and Osmotic Effect of Dietary Carbohydrate

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Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine whether differences in the food intake and in the rate of gain of rats fed on low protein diets containing different carbohydrates could be related to differences in the osmotic effects of the various carbohydrates. Rate of gain, food intake, stomach volume, dry weight and moisture content of the stomach contents, and the rate of stomach emptying were determined in rats at intervals after feeding low protein diets containing various carbohydrates. There was an inverse relationship between the capacity of the dietary carbohydrate to exert osmotic pressure and the food intake and rate of gain of rats fed for a single interval each day but the positions of glucose and sucrose in the series were reversed under conditions of ad libitum feeding. There was a direct relationship between the capacity of the dietary carbohydrate to exert osmotic pressure and the stomach volume and moisture content of the stomach contents. Rats could be trained to consume an adequate quantity of a diet in a limited time more readily if the osmotic capacity of the dietary carbohydrate was low.