Effects of Different Meal Frequency on Metabolism, Antioxidant System and Neuro-Behaviour in Rats

Objective: in this project, the effects of meal frequency and caloric restriction on metabolism, antioxidant system and neuro-behaviour were examined as a whole. materials and methods: as a result of a one-month pilot study amount of food and meal times was determined. in the main study, wistar albino, 12 weeks, male, 24 rats were divided into three groups as; ad libitum control (al) (n = 8), two meals fed group (tm) (n = 8), two meals fed and 20% calorie restriction of group (tm-cr) (n = 8). all rats were kept individually in cages. according to the results of a pilot study in main study; 20 g/day; 10 g for the morning and evening meals were given to tm group, 16 g/day; for the morning and evening meals were given feed in the form of 8 grams to tm-cr group. all rats finished the nutrition regulation in a healthy way for 20 weeks. after water mase test, rats were sacrificed. basic metabolic hormones and enzymes, biochemical parameters and oxidant-antioxidant status were measured with elisa and spectrophotometric method. the liver and kidneys were examined histopathologicaly. results: in tm and tm-cr group, according to the al group; homa-ir ratio showed a significantly decreasing (p <0.05). at the beginning of experiments, there were no significant differences each of the three groups of rats body weight (p> 0.05), at the end the experiment; there was significant differences among the three groups (al> tm> tm-cr) (p <0.05). conclusions: significant differences between homa-ir and body weight protects against insulin resistance, obesity, diabetes and other related diseases. tm and tm-cr nutrition are useful.