Abstract
This study examined whether various sugars in the diet affected the selection of foods by Zn-adequate and Zn-deficient rats. Maltose, sucrose, glucose, and fructose were used as carbohydrate sources in the diet, and the selection pattern and weight change of the growing rats were analyzed for 28 days by the two-dish preference test. On the first and second days after initiation of the experimental diets, Zn-adequate control rats showed a preference for sucrose=fructose>maltose=glucose, while through 28 days it was sucrose>maltose>glucose>fructose, whereas for Zn-deficient rats, the order of preference was sucrose and fructose before glucose, and through to 28 days it was sucrose>glucose>fructose. Both control and Zn-deficient rats preferred fructose at the beginning of the experiments, but their preference changed to avoid fructose over the long term. When offered a choice between maltose and sucrose, control rats preferred sucrose, while Zn-deficient rats preferred more maltose than sucrose. When offered a choice between sucrose and glucose, control rats continued to prefer sucrose, but in Zn-deficient rats the preference for sucrose became reduced in the latter half of the experimental period. The sum of daily food intake in rats fed the Zn-deficient diet resulting from selection of the two diets changed with cyclically with a periodicity of 3.5-3.9 days. These results suggest that a Zn-deficient status changes the sugar preference of rats.
