Metabolic responses in fatty and lean rats eating carbohydrate diets freely or in scheduled meals

Feeding young male Zucker rats diets containing 54% carbohydrates for 4 weeks demonstrated significant metabolic differences associated with genotype and feeding patterns.

• Genotype effects on liver and adipose tissue enzyme activities were observed, differing between fatty and lean rats.
• Food intake and liver size differences were noted only in meal-fed rats, while body weight gain differences occurred only in ad libitum-fed rats.
• Sucrose consumption influenced food efficiency and body weight gain, along with liver enzyme activities and fat pad size, across both feeding patterns.
• The impact of sucrose compared to starch was evident in liver enzyme activities and soluble adipose tissue protein levels in both feeding conditions.
• The disaccharide comparison revealed greater effects of sucrose over invert sugar in liver enzyme activities and fat pad size in ad libitum-fed lean rats.

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