Does short-term diet restriction in mice precipitate the development of anorexia?

Anorexia nervosa (AN) inevitably begins with dieting. Yet, it is unknown whether anyone who will ultimately suffer from anorexia is already ill upon "going on a diet", or whether disease begins during, and is perhaps triggered by, dieting. The objective of the following study was to precipitate anorexia by imposing diet restriction on animals, as a model for generating AN in humans. Three hundred young female Sabra mice were diet restricted to 40% of daily nutrient requirements for 12 days, lost 17% of body weight and were then re-fed ad-lib. All mice regained appetite and weight. Our conclusions are that diet restriction does not precipitate anorexia in mice. Our findings do not support a role for diet restriction per se in triggering AN.