Food intake and peripheral factors after recovery from insulin-induced hypoglycemia.

Rats increased food intake after plasma glucose returned to normal in the wake of an insulin-induced hypoglycemic episode. Whereas increased eating 6-8 h after insulin occurred only when plasma glucose levels fell below 70 mg/dl, intakes were not related to the degree of prior hypoglycemia. Administration of glucose in the first 3 h after insulin prevented increased eating, whereas glucose given 4-6 h after insulin was less effective. Intravenous infusions of fructose given in the first 3 h after insulin injection prevented increased food intake in normal but not hepatic-vagotomized rats. Determination of various metabolic variables in parallel experiments showed that insulin treatment resulted in changes in peripheral metabolism, which persisted at the time feeding tests were conducted, and that administration of glucose or fructose tended to reverse these changes. The results suggest that increased food intake after recovery from hypoglycemia is associated with peripheral metabolic consequences of ongoing or previous counterregulatory responses which occur during hypoglycemia and that alterations in hepatic metabolism are sufficient to inhibit this insulin-induced eating.