Meeting Abstract
Previous research has indicated that high dietary lipid content inhibits intestinal carbohydrase activity. This effect has been observed in adult rodents and house sparrows, as well as in 12-day old nestling house sparrows that spent nine days on diets containing high lipid content. We are now studying enzyme digestion with even younger nestlings fed diets with contrasting compositions for shorter periods of time, and we tested for this apparent inhibition by dietary lipids. Three-day-old nestlings were captured and fed a diet with 5% carbohydrate/8% lipid followed by three days on the same diet or three days on a higher lipid version of the diet (5% carbohydrate/25% lipid). We found that high dietary lipid content had no significant effect on carbohydrase activity after three days, contrary to what we expected. Although the reason for this different pattern is unknown, it could be related to the younger age, shorter feeding time span, or different diet compositions that were used. We concluded that the impact of dietary lipid on intestinal enzyme activity is complex and that studies of dietary modulation of intestinal enzymes should be conducted with careful attention to this possible effect. The mechanistic basis for dietary lipid’s sometimes significant effect on intestinal enzymes remains to be determined. Supported by NSF IOS-1354893 to WHK.
