Food intake after intragastric meals of short-, medium, or long-chain triglyceride.

Food-deprived Sprague-Dawley rats were given equicaloric intragastric infusions of mixed meals consisting largely of short- (SCT), medium- (MCT), or long-chain triglyceride (LCT). When animals were allowed to feed 20 min after infusion, there was an immediate reduction of food intake that was sustained over the 2 hr feeding period. During the first hour of feeding, the SCT, which is digested and absorbed more rapidly than the MCT or the LCT, was more effective per calorie in reducing food intake than these longer-chain triglycerides. However, during the second hour, cumulative intakes after the different triglyceride infusions were not significantly different. Equicaloric infusions of the MCT and the LCT resulted in equivalent reductions of food intake at all times. The satiety effects of these two triglycerides appear to be related to their caloric properties rather than to chain length. Since the LCT reduced food intake before the absorbed fat could have entered the blood to stimulate satiety signals, this satiety effect may be mediated by a gastroenteric signal. None of the triglyceride infusions resulted in a conditioned taste aversion suggesting that food intake was reduced through normal satiety rather than through discomfort.