Effect of protein feeding pattern on body composition and nitrogen metabolism in young rats

• Published in: The FASEB journal 2006-03, Vol.20 (5), p.A1044-A1044
• Main Authors: Okamura, Koji, Yokota, Yukari, Tsurumi, Yasukimi, Tai, Shinji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0892-6638; 1530-6860
• DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.A1044-c

We showed that protein pulse feeding in young rats was inferior to spread feeding for body weight (BW) and skeletal muscle gain especially pulsed before an active period (EB 2005). We thus investigated the effect of such feeding pattern on body composition and nitrogen balance in young rats. Rats were provided with meals at 8:00–9:00 (Meal 8, M8), 12:00–13:00, 16:00–17:00 and 20:00–21:00 h (M20) under a 12h light‐dark cycle (dark 8:00–20:00 h). In a pulse pattern, 66% of daily protein intake was given at M8 (HL, n=6) or M20 (LH, n=6) with a high protein diet (protein; P 46%) and 11% was given by the other 3 meals with a low protein diet (P 8%), whereas in a spread pattern, daily protein intake was divided into 4 equal portions with a normal protein diet (P 17%) (N, n=6). The energy of the 4 meals was equal and daily intake of protein and energy was identical in all groups. After 8 weeks, the BW was lower in HL than in N (P < 0.0001) and tended to be lower in LH than in N (P = 0.09) (N 314 g (SD 9), HL 287 (9), LH 304 (7)). The carcass protein and water were N=LH>HL (P