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.
Metabolism; Liver; Transaminases; Carbonated Beverages; Coolings; Stomach; Rats
