Utilization of Food for Weight Maintenance and Growth
Hans Kaunitz,
C. A. Slanetz and
R. E. Johnson
Department of Pathology and the Institute of Comparative Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York
1. Food requirements for weight maintenance and weight increasewere determined by measurements of the food intake of rats keptat constant weight by restricted feeding of a complete, purifieddiet and of the food intake and weight increase of well-matchedrats permitted to eat freely of the same diet.
2. The requirementsfor the maintenance of one gram of bodyweight were found tobe influenced by the duration of food restriction,the bodyweight, and the room temperature but hardly by theage of theanimals. Continued food restriction led to a reductionof about30% in the weight maintenance requirements.
3. Food requirementsfor weight increase did not seem to beinfluenced by the abovefactors. Approximately one gram of foodwas necessary to buildone gram of body substance under widelydifferent conditions.
4. The implications of these findings for studies of foodutilizationand paired weighing and paired feeding techniquesare discussed.