The Effects of a Constant T₃ Level and Thermoneutrality in Diet-Induced Hyperphagia

Summary

Rats were thyroidectomized, then fitted with a miniosmotic pump infusing T₃, thereby assuring a constant circulating level of T₃. After a ten-day recovery period, they were submitted either to a chow or to a cafeteria diet. Body weight, food intake, and energy expenditure were recorded during a thirty day period.

Thyroidectomized T₃ supplemented rats did not exhibit hyperphagia when fed a cafeteria diet. Despite this puzzling normophagia, they still chose nutrients in a distribution similar to that of other cafeteria-fed rats and, though maintaining the same weight as chow-fed rats, increased their proportion of fatty weight compared to these rats. The relationship between energy expenditure.

Key-Words

Cafeteria Diet - Thermoneutrality - Thyroid Hormones - Energy Expenditure