Changes in reward-induced neural activity upon Cafeteria Diet consumption.

Excessive consumption of highly palatable foods rich in sugar and fat, often referred to as "junk" or "fast" foods, plays a central role in the development of obesity. The highly palatable characteristics of these foods activate hedonic and motivational mechanisms to promote food-seeking behavior and overeating, which is largely regulated by the brain reward system. Excessive junk food consumption can alter the functioning of this reward system, but exact mechanisms of these changes are still largely unknown.

Effects of a Calorie-Restricted Cafeteria Diet and Oleuropein Supplementation on Adiposity and mRNA Expression of Energy Balance Related Genes in Obese Male Rats.

Supplementation with natural bioactive compounds has been proposed to be a complementary tool to the calorie-restricted diets and physical exercise programs used to tackle human overweight, obesity and Metabolic syndrome. Herein, we evaluated the effects of 14 weeks of calorie-restricted cafeteria diet either alone or combined with oral administration of the polyphenol oleuropein in obese adult male rats, compared with a control group fed standard chow and a group fed cafeteria diet. Animals were sacrificed at the age of 26 weeks and several tissues of interest were removed.

Impact of Calorie-Restricted Cafeteria Diet and Treadmill Exercise on Sweet Taste in Diet-Induced Obese Female and Male Rats.

The goal of the present study was to evaluate the sweet taste function in obese rats fed with a 30% calorie-restricted cafeteria diet (CAFR) and/or subjected to moderate treadmill exercise (12-17 m/min, 35 min, 5 days per week) for 9 weeks. A two-bottle preference test, a taste reactivity test, and a brief-access licking test were carried out when animals were aged 21 weeks; biometric and metabolic parameters were also measured along the interventions. Two separate experiments for females and males were performed.

Restricted cafeteria feeding and treadmill exercise improved body composition, metabolic profile and exploratory behavior in obese male rats.

The aim of this study was to evaluate, in male Long-Evans rats, whether a restricted-cafeteria diet (CAFR), based on a 30% calorie restriction vs continuous ad libitum cafeteria (CAF) fed animals, administered alone or in combination with moderate treadmill exercise (12 m/min, 35 min, 5 days/week for 8 weeks), was able to ameliorate obesity and the associated risk factors induced by CAF feeding for 18 weeks and to examine the changes in circadian locomotor activity, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functionality, and stress response elicited by this dietary pattern. In addition to the expected increase in body weight and adiposity, and the development of metabolic dysregulations compatible with Metabolic Syndrome, CAF intake resulted in a sedentary profile assessed by the home-cage activity test, reduced baseline HPA axis activity through decreased corticosterone levels, and boosted exploratory behavior. Both CAFR alone and in combination with exercise reduced abdominal adiposity and hypercholesterolemia compared to CAF.

Behavioral and Metabolic Effects of a Calorie-Restricted Cafeteria Diet and Oleuropein Supplementation in Obese Male Rats.

Diet-induced obesity models are widely used to investigate dietary interventions for treating obesity. This study was aimed to test whether a dietary intervention based on a calorie-restricted cafeteria diet (CAF-R) and a polyphenolic compound (Oleuropein, OLE) supplementation modified sucrose intake, preference, and taste reactivity in cafeteria diet (CAF)-induced obese rats. CAF diet consists of high-energy, highly palatable human foods.