Why do animals overeat on a high-fat diet?

Yes, we have already discussed this here, take a look at an older post. But this time we will look at a study that has this question directly in its title. Really!

This graph might remind you of something, right?

It is a typical graph of food intake in the first days after a sudden switch to a high-fat diet. It manifests itself as incredible overeating. The authors do not provide a reasonable explanation; my explanation can be found here. Such a procedure provides clear results, such as the experiment in the next image. It does not matter whether it is lard or vegetable oils. So obesity is caused by fat in the diet, period. Really?

Let us continue with another test from the same study. This one is much more sophisticated. In this case, it is a gradual transition to a high-fat diet, modified so that the mice first received a precisely defined amount of fats and, in addition, could consume standard low-fat pellets ad libitum. The first week 0%, the second week 25%, then 50%, then 90% of calories from fats. It is not entirely clear to me what the protein content was as the percentage of calories from fats increased; it probably decreased from 29% to 22%, 15%, 3%, but I calculated that myself. It could therefore also be an experiment with a limited amount of protein.

See for yourselves, no overeating takes place; both groups are completely comparable in the range of 13% to 90% of calories from fats. The diet used consists of pellets containing 29% protein and 13% fat, supplemented with lard as added fat. The conclusion therefore is that, in order to prevent overeating, the mouse must adapt to the change in diet through a certain restriction. It is enough to divide the diet into two components, a limited amount of fats supplemented with low-fat pellets. We have also known for a long time that the amount of fats in the diet is good to keep at a constant level; the body must adapt to the amount of fats for at least 5 days. In contrast, it does not need to adapt to the amount of carbohydrates; the need for consumption adjusts according to daily calorie expenditure.

The previous experiment was conducted in such a way that the mice had to eat all the fat at once. In the second variant, the fat was divided into 6 doses every 4 hours. The result was almost the same, but food intake was slightly higher.

What is the conclusion? The composition of the diet does not produce obesity in a short-term test lasting 4 weeks. Does that surprise anyone? No, when a study with variable composition is done correctly, primitive methods of creating obesity do not work, because damage to the organism through overeating did not occur. That is how it is.

A rapid excess of calories that the body cannot handle damages the organism, usually permanently, by cellular senescence.


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References:

Why Do Mice Overeat High-Fat Diets? How High-Fat Diet Alters the Regulation of Daily Caloric Intake in Mice


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