Elsevier

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 65, Issue 1, August 1998, Pages 157-170
Physiology & Behavior

Original Articles
Mathematical determination of feeding patterns and its consequence on correlational studies

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(98)00159-0Get rights and content

Abstract

DEMARIA-PESCE, V. H. AND S. NICOLAÏDIS. Mathematical determination of feeding patterns and its consequence on correlational studies. PHYSIOL BEHAV 65(1) 157–170, 1998.—The literature contains discrepancies on the definition of parameters of feeding pattern and, consequently, on the relation between the size of a meal and the interval that precedes and follows it. In this paper, based on 1513 meals recorded on 22 rats, we used a modified method to set up the parameters of ingestive behavior based on one main principle: no parameter had to be pre-defined before the raw data were processed. Then, the characteristics of the meal, meal duration, meal size, intra-meal pauses, inter-meal intervals, and rate of ingestion were determined. Once the characteristics of the meal were set up, our method was experimentally validated by offering scheduled meals. Depending on the ingestion rate, three classes of meals were also identified: slow-, medium-, and fast-rate meals. i.e., there were individuals who tended to eat slowly while others ate faster. Besides validating the proposed method, the collected data were also used to revisit the question concerning the post-prandial correlations. The correlations between meal size and the pre or post-prandial intervals weren’t confirmed. However, when we applied to our own data previous methods of analysis based on arbitrary criteria used by other authors, we verified those correlations. By reinforcing the principle of using raw data and objective criteria to define feeding behavior parameters, this study allows to further consider the meal-to-meal relations and raises the problem of the interpretation of such relations in terms of their physiological significance.

Section snippets

Animal model and housing

Thirty-one adult male Wistar rats weighing 283 ± 48 g at the beginning of the experiment were housed individually in special cylindrical cages with a floor surface of 491 cm2 and 42 cm height, placed in a room with constant temperature (24 ± 1°C) and a LD12:12 (L = 0600–1800 hours) light-dark cycle and a light intensity of 300 Lux. Animals were fed with standard laboratory chow (Extralabo M25 in powder form), the detailed composition of which was described elsewhere (18). In all cases, water

Results

Results are presented in the following order: 1) the experimental validation of the method; 2) the definition of pauses and intervals and, consequently, of meals; 3) the determination of the feeding patterns; and 4) their potential correlations.

Discussion

The contribution of this work concerns two different questions of ingestive behavior: the methodological approach which is the basis for the definition of the feeding parameters and the consequence of an appropriate definition on the important question of the correlation between meal size and inter-meal interval. The importance of these questions is of course related to the physiological implications of such correlational investigations.

From the methodological point of view, this work

Acknowledgements

Authors thank Mr. Jacques Rouault for performing the mathematical analysis of the data and Mr. Laurent Poirier for his skillful technical and computing help.

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    Present address: Dr. Stylianos Nicolaidis, Institut Européen des Sciences du Goût et des Comportements Alimentaires (IESGCA), C.N.R.S. U.P.R. 9054, Campus de Montmuzard, 15 rue Hugues Picardet, 21000 Dijon, France. E-mail: [email protected]

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