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Modes of Action of Gallic Acid in Suppressing Food Intake of Rats¹

Department of Nutrition, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel and the Division of Endocrinology, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA 90509

Gallic acid (3,4,5,trihydroxybenzoic acid) is a naturally occurring polyphenol comprising the major hydrolytic product of tannic acid. Gallic acid and tannic acid were previously shown to suppress food intake of animals to a similar extent. However, the mechanism by which this effect takes place has not been previously reported.

Reported here is that the effect of gallic acid on food intake is not mediated entirely through taste aversion or through other gastrointestinal factors, since a continuous daily infusion of a gallic acid solution (18 ml; 2%) resulted in a significant reduction of food intake. The catechol moiety of gallic acid plays an important role in its suppression of food intake since administration of its 4-0 methyl derivative was significantly less effective in suppressing food intake (P < 0.01). The effectiveness of gallic acid in suppressing food intake diminishes with time, indicating adaptation to the consumption of this polyphenol. Propyl gallate is a more potent suppressor of food intake than gallic acid. Adaptation to the consumption of this polyphenol, if it exists at all, is much slower than with gallic acid.

KEY WORDS: • gallic acid • food intake

¹ Supported in part by NIH grant AM-15165.

Manuscript received 7 April 1981.