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Energy Utilization in Food-Restricted Female Rats¹

Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30303

We studied changes in energy utilization in mature female rats exposed to varying degrees of food restriction. Food-restricted rats showed considerable energy conservation, exhibited primarily as a reduction in the energy required for daily maintenance. When a given body weight loss was produced by starvation (3 or 6 d), changes in body composition and energy utilization differed only slightly (and temporarily) compared with the same body weight lost by partial food restriction. All food-restricted groups demonstrated a remarkable ability to reduce maintenance energy costs and to achieve zero energy balance at food intakes 40–50 % of controls. By contrasting these results with our previous work in food-restricted male rats, we identified possible gender differences in the response to food restriction. Females appear to preserve lean mass to a greater degree than male rats by utilizing relatively more fat for energy needs. This preference for fat as a fuel during negative energy balance suggests that females would lose less body weight for a given reduction in carcass energy than males, since fat is calorically denser than lean mass.

KEY WORDS: • energy metabolism • underfeeding • energy balance • maintenance requirements • sex differences

¹ The work was supported in part by Grant AM-35020 of the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and a grant to James O. Hill from the Emory University Research Committee.

² Current address: Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, D-4130 MCN, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232.

Manuscript received 25 November 1985. Revision accepted 7 May 1986.

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