ACTIVITY-BASED ANOREXIA AS A THERMOREGULATION PHENOMENON

Activity Based Anorexia (ABA) is a phenomenon that results from exposing rats to a feeding program of about 1 to 1.5 h per day, giving them free access to an activity wheel the rest of the time. The reported effects are high levels of activity without a visible compensation in food intake, and in consequence a low body weight. There is a variety of interpretations about the causes of this phenomenon. However, there are two main theories: one of them says that ABA is a product of adaptive failure to the new feeding regime and that the activity in the wheel interferes with such adaptation. The second theoretical position says that the activity acquires reinforcing properties due to feeding restrictions which causes body weight loss and, in turn, more activity. At present, both theories have been interpreted as contradictory. Nevertheless, a series of studies have revealed that the temperature of the environment and in consequence the subjects’ body tem-perature play an essential role in the findings of the field, giving sense to both theories and evidencing their complementariness. The aim of this paper is to re-view the empirical evidence that supports the hypothesis of ABA as a thermoregu-lation phenomenon.