Comparison of isocaloric quantities of medium-chain tryglyceride and carbohydrate in promoting weight gain in short bowel rats

Weight gain was studied in short-bowel rats fed diets consisting of rat chow supplemented with isocaloric quantities of long chain triglycerides (LCT), medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) or carbohydrate. Compared with the LCT-supplemented diet, MCT supplementation did not result in a significant weight gain, while a significantly increased weight gain was obtained by the rats on a sucrose- or maltose-supplemented diet. These studies suggest that while the caloric content per gram of disaccharides is only one-half that of MCT, disaccharides were better absorbed than MCT and thus provided as good, if not a better, source of calories for short-bowel rats.