Feed efficiency, food choice, and food reward behaviors in young and old Fischer rats

Increased susceptibility to energy imbalance and anorexia in old age are risk factors for malnutrition during aging, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we explored changes in taste-guided hedonic value (“liking”) and motivation to obtain (“wanting”) palatable foods as potential mediators of age-associated anorexia and weight loss in old Fischer-344 rats. “Liking” as measured by the number of positive hedonic orofacial responses to sucrose and corn oil was not different in old compared with young rats. Taste-guided, low effort “wanting” as measured by the number of licks per 10 seconds was also not different, although old rats exhibited a slight oromotor impairment as revealed by significantly increased interlick intervals. Medium effort “wanting” as measured by performance in the incentive runway was significantly decreased in old versus young rats. Although decreased net running speed was partially accountable, significantly increased duration of distractions suggested additional deficits in motivation and/or reinforcement learning. Together with early satiation on corn oil but not sucrose in aged rats, these changes are likely to have resulted in the significantly greater sucrose preference of old rats in 12-hour tests, and may ultimately lead to reduced energy intake and weight loss.