Meal size as a determinant of food intake in normal and hypothalamic obese rats

Size of meals taken by normal rats was greatly increased by following each spontaneously initiated meal with gastric infusion of additional diet. In a second experiment, rats in the dynamic phase of hypothalamic obesity were limited to meals much smaller than the unusually large ones they usually take. In both experiments rats made precise adjustments in meal frequency which maintained daily food intakes at or close to pre-experimental levels.