Refeeding after fasting in the rat: effects on body composition and food efficiency

Abstract

Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were fasted for 65 h and then refed ad libitum for 8 days, during which time body weight and body composition returned to the levels of nonfasting controls. During refeeding, after a decrease on the 1st day, daily food intake was moderately increased above control levels. This compensatory increase after the fast brought the total consumption for the whole period to the same level as for the controls. Thus, a greater body weight increase per gram food consumed (“food efficiency”) was achieved during the refeeding period. Starvation-induced energy conservation processes thus seemed to persist during refeeding. This mechanism(s) might participate in causing weight gain after reduction as a treatment for obesity.