Abstract
‘Bonito bouillon’ is one of the characteristic seasonings of Japanese food. In this study, we investigated the effects of a high-carbohydrate diet flavored with bonito bouillon (BF diet) on the subject's preference for a high-fat diet (HF diet). Diet preference experiments that compared BF diets and high-carbohydrate (HC) diets of 5-week-old male ICR mice over 24h showed that the BF diet was preferred to the HC diet, implying that bonito bouillon flavor enhanced the preference of the mice for the HC diet. In long-term diet preference experiments, one group of mice (HC & HF) was given free access to the HC and HF diets, and the other group (BF & HF) to the BF and HF diets, for 5 weeks. Intake of the HF diet by the BF & HF group was lower than that of the HC & HF group. Therefore, bonito bouillon flavoring enhanced the intake of the high-carbohydrate diet, thereby decreasing the intake of the high-fat diet.
