ArticlePhysiology & behavior2018
Restriction of dietary protein leads to conditioned protein preference and elevated palatability of protein-containing food in rats.
Article in Physiology & behavior, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- FGF21 signals through hindbrain neurons to alter food intake and energy expenditure during dietary protein restriction.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Review
- Food Macronutrient Composition Influences Attentional Bias Toward Food Cues.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Article
- Flexible value coding in the mesolimbic dopamine system depending on internal water and sodium balance.NPJ science of food · 2025Article
- Brain amino acid sensing for organismal amino acid homeostasis.Open biology · 2025Review
- FGF21 as a mediator of adaptive changes in food intake and macronutrient preference in response to protein restriction.Neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- FGF21 acts in the brain to drive macronutrient-specific changes in behavioral motivation and brain reward signaling.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Weight gain during the menopause transition: Evidence for a mechanism dependent on protein leverage.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2023Article
- Dynamic effects of dietary protein restriction on body weights, food consumption, and protein preference in C57BL/6J and Fgf21-KO mice.Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior · 2022Article
- Predictive and motivational factors influencing anticipatory contrast: A comparison of contextual and gustatory predictors in food restricted and free-fed rats.Physiology & behavior · 2021Article
- Protein Appetite at the Interface between Nutrient Sensing and Physiological Homeostasis.Nutrients · 2021Review
- A Comparison of Total Food Intake at a Personalised Buffet in People with Obesity, before and 24 Months after Roux-en-Y-Gastric Bypass Surgery.Nutrients · 2021Article
- Protein Appetite Drives Macronutrient-Related Differences in Ventral Tegmental Area Neural Activity.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2021Article
- Age-dependent effects of protein restriction on dopamine release.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Article
- FGF21 and the Physiological Regulation of Macronutrient Preference.Endocrinology · 2020Review
- FGF21 Signals Protein Status to the Brain and Adaptively Regulates Food Choice and Metabolism.Cell reports · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The mechanisms by which intake of dietary protein is regulated are poorly understood despite their potential involvement in determining food choice and appetite. In particular, it is unclear whether protein deficiency results in a specific appetite for protein and whether influences on diet are immediate or develop over time. To determine the effects of protein restriction on consumption, preference, and palatability for protein we assessed patterns of intake for casein (protein) and maltodextrin (carbohydrate) solutions in adult rats. To induce a state of protein restriction, rats were maintained on a low protein diet (5% casein) and compared to control rats on non-restricted diet (20% casein). Under these dietary conditions, relative to control rats, protein-restricted rats exhibited hyperphagia without weight gain. After two weeks, on alternate conditioning days, rats were given access to either isocaloric casein or maltodextrin solutions that were saccharin-sweetened and distinctly flavored whilst consumption and licking patterns were recorded. This allowed rats to learn about the post-ingestive nutritional consequences of the two different solutions. Subsequently, during a preference test when rats had access to both solutions, we found that protein-restricted rats exhibited a preference for casein over carbohydrate whereas non-restricted rats did not. Analysis of lick microstructure revealed that this preference was associated with an increase in cluster size and number, reflective of an increase in palatability. In conclusion, protein-restriction induced a conditioned preference for protein, relative to carbohydrate, and this was associated with increased palatability.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.