Paradoxical stimulation of food intake by larger loads of glucose,fructose and mannose: Evidence for a positive feedback effect

The phenomenon of paradoxical stimulation of food intake by larger alimentary loads of isotonic glucose was studied with regard to a variety of experimental and nutritional conditions. Thus, paradoxical feeding response was induced not only by the infusions of glucose but also of the other insulinogenic sugars—fructose and mannose. Stimulation of food intake was further observed following the administration of larger volumes of isotonic glucose solutions via the duodenal and intraperitoneal infusion routes in free feeding as well as in 12 hr food-deprived animals. This paradoxical alimentary response was not eliminated or reduced by repeating these infusions daily over a longer period of time; in fact, food in the first postinfusions hour and, unexpectedly, also the total daily food intakes, showed a gradually increasing trend with daily repetitions. Drinking of isotonic glucose for 1 hr in 12 hr water-deprived animals did not suppress the subsequent intake of regular food despite the substantial amount of glucose drunk (94.1 ml vs 76.5 ml of water in controls during the same time period). The conbination of glucose drinking with subsequent food intake resulted in a significant caloric imbalance during the first hour which was not fully compensated within the 24 hr. These findings indicate that larger loads of insulinogenic sugar loads are capable of triggering an antiregulatory positive feedback alimentary response which can induce caloric imbalance and thus adversely affects the short-term maintenance of energy balance.