Influences of time intervals between meals and total food intake on resting metabolic rate in rats

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Abstract
Resting metabolic rate was measured in rats receiving single or double food portions every day or every other day, adding up to the same total food intakes. Starving rats were also measured. At two different total food intakes, there were no differences between the rats that were fed a meal every day and those fed a double meal every other day. Thus, the time interval between meals does not determine the extent of the metabolic depression. Also, the resting metabolic rates of rats fed various reduced food regimens are very similar to each other and to the resting metabolic rate of starved rats. The results of this study thus indicate that metabolic depression during starvation and severe caloric restriction in rats is an initially uniform response that modulates itself late in the starvation or restriction period in accordance with the total food intake.