Figure 1.

(A) Schematic representation of the experimental design used in this study. Animals were divided in two groups: one received a standard chow diet daily (Chow/Chow group) and the other group received the same standard chow for 5 days followed by a highly palatable chocolate-flavored, high sucrose diet for 2 days (Chow/Palatable group). The first 5 days when chow diet was available and the last 2 days of the weeks (when animals received either chow or palatable depending of the experimental conditions) of each week were referred as C and P phases. (B,C) Effects of repeated, alternating 5-day access to chow and 2-day access to either regular chow (Chow/Chow) or a palatable diet (Chow/Palatable) in male Wistar rats on (B) local and (C) cumulative food intake (n = 19–20/group). Data show M ± SEM. * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001 vs. Chow/Chow.