A High-Fat, High-Calorie Diet Can Reduce the Expression ofAnxiety in Socially Housed Female RhesusMacaques Public

Abstract

Socially housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) have a dominance hierarchy that is similar to the stratified society of humans and therefore can be used as an ethologically valid and translational model for the study of psychosocial stress, food intake, and emotionality. We used 2 groups of 5 socially housed female rhesus monkeys and observed their caloric-intake, using automated feeders, and behaviors under different diet conditions. Under the first diet condition, only a low-calorie (LCD) diet was available for 3 weeks, and under the second diet condition, the monkeys were given a choice between LCD and a high-calorie diet (HCD). Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures, and post hoc tests with Bonferroni correction were used to assess statistical significance. The data showed that all animals preferred HCD over LCD, and subordinate females consumed significantly more of both diets. Behavioral data from this study showed that the increased consumption of HCD was negatively correlated with the expression of agonistic and anxiety-like behaviors in subordinate females. Results of this study suggested that anxiety-like behaviors may be attenuated by the consumption of HCD and supported the notion that humans and animals under chronic stress increase the consumption of a preferred diet that is high in fat, calorie, and sugar as a coping strategy.

Table of Contents

1. OBJECTIVE.................................................................. 1

2. BACKGROUND............................................................... 5

A Definition of Obesity............................................... 5

Health Risks Associated with Obesity..................... ...... 6

Epidemiology of Obesity............................................. 9

Etiology of Obesity.................................................. 11

3. INTRODUCTION............................................................ 23

4. METHODS................................................................... 33

Subjects and Housing............................................... 33

Feeding Apparatus and Data Collection........................ 34

Experimental Design......................................... ........ 35

Behavior and Emotional Reactivity............................... 36

Data Analysis.......................................................... 38

5. RESULTS.................................................................... 39

Total calories consumed during LCD only and

Choice (LCD +HCD).................................................. 39

Diet intake of LCD in the absence and presence of HCD... 39

Anxiety-like behavior and diet..................................... 40

Social behaviors and diet........................................... 42

6. DISCUSSION................................................................ 43

7. CONCLUSION............................................................... 48

8. REFERENCES................................................................ 60

9. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS & TABLES

Figure

1) Automated Feeder..................................................... 49

2) Social Status and Diet Condition................................... 52

3) Anxiety-like Behavior and Diet Condition.................... .... 54

4) HCD Consumption During Choice Condition...................... 55

5) Frequency of Anxiety-like Behavior................................ 56

6) Agonistic Behavior & Diet Condition................... ............ 57

7) Frequency of Affiliative Behavior & Diet Condition............. 58

8) Duration of Affiliative Behavior & Diet Condition................ 59

Tables

1) Rhesus Monkey Ethogram............................................. 50

2) Social Status & Diurnal Feeding..................................... 51

3) Weight Change Data................................................... 51

4) Diurnal Consumption of LCD During Each Diet Condition...... 53

5) Diurnal Consumption of LCD versus HCD During Choice........ 53

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Anthropology
Degree	BS
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Anthropology, Medical and Forensic Psychology, Behavioral Psychology, Experimental
Mot-clé	stress psychosocial rhesus feeding animal model obesity comfort food anxiety
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Whitten, Pat, Emory University
Committee Members	Wilson, Mark, Emory University Brown, Peter J, Emory University Hadley, Craig, Emory University

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