Food Intake and Weight Gain in Mice Parasitized with Spirometra mansonoides

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Abstract
Six experiments were performed using 54 female mice (27 infected, 27 uninfected) in an attempt to determine whether relative food intake is involved in the accelerated weight gain observed in small laboratory animals infected with small numbers of spargana. In five experiments the infected mice ate more and gained more, and in one experiment they ate less and gained less than their respective control groups on an absolute basis. Total amount of food consumed by the experimental animals was 6.37% greater than that consumed by the controls. However since some of these mice had been infected several weeks previously they were already heavier than their controls at the beginning of the experiment, and in relation to weight, the food intake of the two groups of animals was essentially the same. It seems clear this type of weight gain is not explainable on the basis of any appreciable difference in relative food intake of the two groups. A tendency on the part of the controls to scatter their food suggested that they found the oily diet less acceptable than did the experimental animals.

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