Dietary-induced overeating in experimental animals.

Modifications in dietary conditions can result in small, but consistent, increases in caloric intake which over time accumulate to substantial increases in body weight. Allowing rats access to either high fat diets or a variety of highly palatable foods can lead to obesity. Recent experiments also have shown that providing access to sweet carbohydrate solutions in addition to the complete diet can cause weight gains in normal neurologically intact adult rats. Although animals increase consumption of carbohydrate on this dietary regime, they continue to maintain minimum requirements for other dietary nutrients. It appears that increasing the palatability of the diet can lead to overeating, but cannot induce the rat to select a diet that is deficient in protein, fat, vitamins, or minerals. Further exploration of the conditions associated with dietary-induced overeating in animals may provide insights into conditions related to obesity in man.