A simple action reduces high-fat diet intake and obesity in mice

Diets that are high in fat cause overeating and weight gain in multiple species of animals, suggesting that high dietary fat is sufficient to cause obesity. However, high-fat diets are typically provided freely to animals in obesity experiments, so it remains unclear whether high-fat diets would still cause obesity if these diets required more effort to obtain. We hypothesized that unrestricted access to high-fat diets is important for these diets to induce overeating and that requiring mice to perform small amounts of work to obtain a high-fat diet would reduce calorie intake and associated weight gain. To test this hypothesis, we developed a novel home-cage-based feeding device that provided the high-fat diet in two conditions: either freely or after mice poked their noses into a port one time-a simple action that is easy for them to do. Consistent with our hypothesis, requiring mice to nose-poke reduced high-fat diet intake and nearly completely prevented weight gain. Requiring mice to nose-poke also reduced low-fat grain-based pellet intake, confirming that this is a general mechanism governing food choice and not something specific to a high-fat diet. We conclude that unrestricted access to food promotes overeating and that requiring a simple action such as a nose-poke can reduce overeating and weight gain in mice. Our results may have implications for why overeating and obesity are common in modern food environments, which are often characterized by easy access to low-cost unhealthy foods.

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Publication Details

Journal
Current Biology
Published
2025-06-19
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.05.067
Citations
11
Primary Topic
Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
10.06

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article

A simple action reduces high-fat diet intake and obesity in mice

Meaghan C. Creed, Yiyan Pan, Zane B. Andrews, Kristen M. Delevich et al.
11 citations
Current Biology
Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
10.06
article

A simple action reduces high-fat diet intake and obesity in mice

Meaghan C. Creed, Yiyan Pan, Zane B. Andrews, Kristen M. Delevich, Romana Stark, Lisa Z. Fang, Eva O. Karolczak, Susan E. Maloney, Alex Reichenbach, Jakub Czarny, Michael J. Krashes, Wang Lok So, Gargi Chatterjee Basu, Katherine B. McCullough, Jeremy M. Thompson, Bridget A. Matikainen‐Ankney, Hamid Taghipourbibalan, Wambura Fobbs, James E. McCutcheon, Chantelle Murrell, Alexxai V. Kravitz, Sara R. Westbrook, Eric Casey, Victor A. Cazares, Justin Wang, Yu-Hsuan Chang, Suzanne R. Penna, Ames Sutton Hickey, Michael R. Barrett
article en
11 citations

Abstract

Diets that are high in fat cause overeating and weight gain in multiple species of animals, suggesting that high dietary fat is sufficient to cause obesity. However, high-fat diets are typically provided freely to animals in obesity experiments, so it remains unclear whether high-fat diets would still cause obesity if these diets required more effort to obtain. We hypothesized that unrestricted access to high-fat diets is important for these diets to induce overeating and that requiring mice to perform small amounts of work to obtain a high-fat diet would reduce calorie intake and associated weight gain. To test this hypothesis, we developed a novel home-cage-based feeding device that provided the high-fat diet in two conditions: either freely or after mice poked their noses into a port one time-a simple action that is easy for them to do. Consistent with our hypothesis, requiring mice to nose-poke reduced high-fat diet intake and nearly completely prevented weight gain. Requiring mice to nose-poke also reduced low-fat grain-based pellet intake, confirming that this is a general mechanism governing food choice and not something specific to a high-fat diet. We conclude that unrestricted access to food promotes overeating and that requiring a simple action such as a nose-poke can reduce overeating and weight gain in mice. Our results may have implications for why overeating and obesity are common in modern food environments, which are often characterized by easy access to low-cost unhealthy foods.

Current BiologyVol. 35(14)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US), Swarthmore College (US), National Institutes of Health (US), Washington University in St. Louis (US), Williams College (US), Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (AU), National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (US), Monash University (AU), Washington State University (US), UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO), Temple University (US)
Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research, Tromsø Forskningsstiftelse, Medical Council of Canada, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Diabetes Research Center, University of Washington, Nutrition Obesity Research Center, University of North Carolina, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
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10.06
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