In order to provide information on the state of hydration of broilers during marketing, 7-week-old Ross broilers of mixed sex were kept at 17 or 23 degrees C and deprived of food, or food and water, for 24 h. Measurements were made of live weight, carcass weight, muscle moisture, packed cell volume, plasma glucose, corticosterone, total protein, osmolality and sodium. There was a decrease in live weight, carcass weight, plasma glucose and plasma total protein, and an increase in packed cell volume and corticosterone, in birds deprived of food, or food and water. Muscle moisture increased in birds deprived of food and decreased in birds deprived of food and water. Osmolality decreased in birds deprived of food, the decrease being greater in birds at 23 degrees C. Plasma sodium levels were higher in birds kept at 23 degrees C and increased only in birds deprived of food and water at 23 degrees C.

The high intake of dietary sodium (Na⁺) has been associated with obesity and insulin resistance, sparking the hypothesis that the consumption of salty foods affects food intake (FI) and postprandial blood glucose (BG) response. Therefore, we conducted 2 randomized repeated-measures experiments to examine the acute effects of the Na⁺ content of solid food and beverage on FI, water intake (WI), subjective appetite, thirst, and BG. FI and WI were measured at ad libitum pizza test meals; appetite, thirst, and BG were measured at baseline and at regular intervals before and after meals. In the first experiment, 16 males (mean body mass index (BMI), 22.2 kg·m⁻²) consumed a low-Na⁺ (71 mg) bean preload (300 kcal) with or without 740 mg or 1480 mg of added Na⁺ 120 min prior to the pizza meal. Participants ate 116 kcal more at the test meal after consuming beans with 740 mg of added Na⁺ than after beans with 1480 mg of added Na⁺. In the second experiment, 19 males (mean BMI, 23.2 kg·m⁻²) consumed a low-Na⁺ (62 mg) tomato beverage (73 kcal) with or without 500, 1000, 1500, or 2000 mg of added Na⁺ 30 min prior to a pizza meal. The beverage with 2000 mg of added Na⁺ led to higher WI during the pizza meal than the beverage with 500 mg of added Na⁺. However, compared with the control conditions (no added Na⁺), added Na⁺ treatments had no effect on dependent measures in either experiment. In conclusion, the acute intake of Na⁺, in a solid or liquid form, did not affect short-term subjective ratings of appetite or thirst, ad libitum FI or WI, or BG in healthy young men.