a, Effect of acute intravenous administration of succinate on interscapular temperature (vehicle, n = 6; succinate, n = 5). b, Acute effect of intravenous succinate on whole body oxygen consumption in wild-type (WT) and UCP1(KO) mice. Basal O 2 consumption rate determined as described in the Methods (vehicle, n = 10; succinate, n = 7; UCP1(KO), n = 9). c, Mouse interscapular temperature following acute exposure to 4 °C with or without acute intravenous administration of malonate (n = 8). Malonate was administered 10 min before transition to 4 °C. d, Acute oral administration of succinate by gavage drives elevation of circulating succinate (n = 4, except 10% 30 min, n = 6). e, Water consumption during high-fat feeding with or without intervention with 1% and 1.5% sodium succinate in drinking water indicates lack of aversion to succinate-containing water (vehicle, n = 35; 1%, n = 26; 1.5%, n = 18). f, Water consumption during high-fat feeding with or without intervention with 2% succinate in drinking water indicates lack of aversion to succinate-containing water (vehicle, n = 24; 2%, n = 22). g, Body weights of high-fat diet feeding mice before intervention with 1% and 1.5% sodium succinate in drinking water (vehicle, n = 35; 1%, n = 26; 1.5%, n = 18). h, Body weights of high-fat diet feeding mice before intervention with 2% sodium succinate in drinking water (vehicle, n = 24; 2%, n = 22; pair fed, n = 18). i, Caloric consumption during high-fat feeding with or without intervention with 1% or 1.5% sodium succinate in drinking water (vehicle, n = 35; 1%, n = 26; 1.5%, n = 18). j, Caloric consumption during high-fat feeding with or without 2% sodium succinate in drinking water, pair-fed mice in this experiment were fed the same number of calories as the 2% succinate group (vehicle, n = 24; 2%, n = 22; pair fed, n = 18). k, l, Caloric absorption and energy assimilation during high-fat feeding with or without 1.5% (k) or 2% (l) sodium succinate in drinking water. Proportion of energy assimilated from diet was determined by subtracting the total calories remaining in mouse faeces from the total calories consumed in the same period (n = 6). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01; two-way ANOVA (a, b (left), c); one-way ANOVA (b (middle, right), d); two-sided t-test (k); data are mean ± s.e.m. of biologically independent samples. Source Data