Abstract: The present invention relates to animal feed compositions which are useful for balancing body weight in companion animals and which after ingestions results in reduced calorie intake at a subsequent meal. It has been found surprisingly that the calorie intake of a pet can be reduced without negative effects towards the begging behavior of the unsatisfied pet which often results in a over-feeding by the owner when the daily feed intake of the diet (preferably a calorie-restricted diet) is combined with the intake of a mixture of triglyceride oils having a solid fat content at ambient to body temperature and an emulsifier, a mixture hereinafter abbreviated by “oil-composition”.

Abstract: The invention makes available, by means of an increased provision of intracellular metabolic intermediates, in particular of erythrose 4-phosphate, alternative processes for the microbial preparation of substances, in particular of aromatic amino acids such as L-phenylalanine, in which processes the activity of a transaldolase is increased in a microorganism producing these substances. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the activity of a transketolase or the activity of a transport protein for the PEP-independent uptake of a sugar and/or the activity of a kinase which phosporylates the relevant sugar are/is additionally increased. The invention also relates to gene structures, and to transformed cells carrying these gene structures, which make it possible to implement these processes in a particularly successful manner.