Effects of conditioning on time-restricted feeding and body weight control

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K03374
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 10040:Experimental psychology-related
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: Aoyama Kenjiro 同志社大学, 心理学部, 教授 (50257789)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 時間帯制限摂食 / 食物誘発性肥満 / ラット / 砂糖ペレット / オペラント条件づけ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Mice and rats become obese when high-fat or high-sugar diets are constantly available. Restricting the opportunity to consume these foods during the active (dark) period alleviates obesity. In the present study, rats were not restricted from consuming nutritionally balanced diets, but were restricted from consuming sugar.
In Experiment 1, sugar was presented four times per day (60 min per session). The non-restricted group was presented sugar twice respectively during the dark and light periods. On the other hand, the restricted group was presented sugar four times during the dark period. The results showed that caloric intake tended to be higher in the restricted group, but there was no difference in body weight.
In Experiment 2, sugar was presented once a day. Sugar was presented during the light period for the light group and during the dark period for the dark group. There was no difference in caloric intake, but the body weight was heavier in the light group than the dark group.

Free Research Field

実験心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

マウスやラットのような齧歯類だけでなく、人間においても食物摂取を活動期（人間では昼間）に限定することで肥満は緩和される。しかし、現代の人間の生活において朝から夜までの摂食を毎日活動期の昼間に収めるのは難しい場合が多い。
これに対して本研究の結果は、すべての摂食を昼間に収めなくても、砂糖のような高カロリーの食物の摂食を昼間に制限することでも体重の増加を抑制できる可能性を示している。したがって本研究の結果は、摂食する時間帯を制限することで肥満を緩和する方法を、現実的に応用するための有益な知識を提供していると考えられる。