Effect of meal eating compared to nibbling upon atherosclerosis in chickens.

STUDIES of the influence of diet on body metabolism have dealt with dietary composition for the most part. Recent evidence has suggested, however, that the daily pattern of ingestion of the diet also may play a significant role in the regulation of overall body metabolism. The manner in which the organism handles ingested foodstuffs is dependent, along with other factors, on whether the diet is eaten as spaced full meals or as frequent small feedings. Force-fed animals or animals trained to eat their food in a limited time period demonstrate increased quantities of body fat," decreased body protein,' increased hepatic and fat hexosemonophosphate shunt activity, and decreased thyroid activity,' 8 compared with those eating the same diet ad libitum. These differences may be secondary to the rate of influx of the calories, causing alterations of tissue enzymatic activities and differences in the use of alternate enzymatic pathways when multiple pathways are available. The present report deals with the relationship of eating habits to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, and forms one other phase of our studies on the influence of the daily pat-