| Abstract: | The combined effects of meal cost and food flavor on meal size were studied with a method that avoided the covariation of nutrient composition and caloric density with palatability. As rats (Rattus norvegicus) drank flavored fluids (unpalatable 0.05% sucrose octaacetate SOA], neutral 0.05% saccharin, and palatable 2% Polycose?+?0.2% saccharin P?+?S]), liquid diet was infused intragastrically. Relative to saccharin, rats with free access ate 10% more calories in larger meals while consuming P?+?S and initially ate fewer calories in smaller but more frequent meals while drinking SOA. Other rats lever-pressed to begin meals, which halved meal number and doubled meal size relative to the free-access group. Although foraging rats also ate larger P?+?S meals and smaller SOA meals, the changes did not affect total intake. Without the usual differential postingestive effects of foods that differ in palatability, making food more costly blunts rats' response to its flavor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
