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Effect of Dietary Carbohydrate Source in Controlling Body Composition Changes Due to Forced Exercise in Rats¹

Department of Food, Nutrition and Institution Administration, College of Home Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742

The effect of dietary carbohydrate on forced exercise response was studied in 90 male Sprague-Dawley rats obtained at 85 days of age. Ten were randomly selected and killed to determine initial body composition. Two groups of 40 were fed ad libitum diets which were nutritionally identical except for their carbohydrate component. In one diet the sole carbohydrate source was cornstarch while the second diet contained a mixture of carbohydrates representative of the American "market basket" diet. The animals consuming each diet were assigned in groups of 10 to one of four forced-exercise treatments: 1) immersed in 27° water up to their necks while in restraining cages; 2) swimming with a weight equivalent to 2% of initial mean body weight attached to the tail (moderate exercise); 3) swimming with a weight equivalent to 4% of body weight (heavy exercise); 4) swimming with a weight equivalent to 6% of body weight (exhausting exercise). At the end of 60 days all rats were killed and changes in body composition determined. The fat/protein ratio of the weight gain of the moderately exercised animals was below that of the other treatments. Exhausting exercise led to a body composition similar to that found in the immersed group among the cornstarch-fed rats. In the rats fed the mixture of carbohydrates, exhausting exercise led to a fat/protein ratio of the weight gain significantly above that in the immersed group. Thus, the degree of exercise influenced not only the magnitude but the direction of change in body composition.

² Data are from a thesis by the author submitted to the Graduate School, University of Maryland, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.S. degree.

Manuscript received 7 December 1970.

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