PURPOSE: Due to the progressive increasing in the use of gasified drinks and weight gain in the Brazilian population, in addition to the fact that carbonic gas is present in all soft drinks, an experimental study was conducted using rats as the subject to investigate the effects of gasified water in the hydric ingestion and food intake, weight gain, gastric area, blood sugar, hematocrit, and hemoglobin. METHODS: Four groups of 12 rats were studied for 36 days while receiving the following daily diet, four times per day: Group 1 - 35g/day of rat food "ad libitum" and 20ml of non-gasified water; Group 2 - 35g/day of rat food "ad libitum" and 20 ml of gasified water; Group 3 - 10g/day of rat food "ad libitum" and 20ml of non-gasified water; and Group 4 - 10g/day of rat food "ad libitum" and 20ml of gasified water. RESULTS: The results showed that the animals submitted to the treatment with gasified water (Groups 2 and 4), presented a larger volume of hydric ingestion and significant increase of the gastric area (p<0,001). In group 2, the food intake and the weight gain were significant (p<0,01). Blood sugar, hematocrit and hemoglobin data didn't show significant alterations among the studied groups. CONCLUSION: The authors of this study concluded that gasified water favored the hydric ingestion, food intake, and weight gain, as well as expanded the gastric area.

INTRODUCTION: The amounts of people that are overweight have been increasing within the population in significant ways during the last decades. In this view, gasified beverages have become an important environmental concern in relation to the eating habits of people, especially who lives in the USA, Mexico, and Brazil. In this order, these three countries constitute the major beverages producers and consumers of the whole world. PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of gastric dilatation in rats submitted to gasified water ingestion, uniform vehicle for all soft drinks, under metabolic patterns of the hepatic function. METHODS: Two groups of 15 rats were formed and observed during two weeks. The rats of the group I, were fed with 200g/day of rat food ad libitum and 100ml of non-gasified water during three daily periods. The rats composing the group II, were fed with 200g/day of rat food ad libitum and 100ml of gasified water within 3 daily periods. The media (x) and standard deviation (s) were calculated through the paired t-test for each group in order to compare the effects of the different types of water and its effect in each one of them. RESULTS: The results indicated that the animals which were submitted to the treatment with gasified water (G-II), presented an increase of glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (GPT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (p<0,01), tendency to increase the glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) (0,10>p>0,05) and increase of the gastric area with macroscopic morphologic alterations, such as the loss of the characteristic linear depressions on the surface of the mucous membrane. CONCLUSION: The gasified water favored the expansion of the gastric area and contributed to the extinction of the linear depressions of the mucous organ, which caused metabolic alterations of the hepatic function.

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