Comparative study of dietary fat: lard and sugar as a better obesity and metabolic syndrome mice model

Abstract

Background

Diet macronutrient heterogeneity hinders animal studies’ data extrapolation from metabolic disorders to human diseases.

Objective

The present study aimed to evaluate different fat-diet compositions’ effect on inducing lipid/glucose metabolism alterations in mice.

Methods

Swiss male mice were fed for 12 weeks with five different diets: Standard Diet (ST), American Institute of Nutrition 93 for growth (AIN93G) high-butter/high-sugar (HBHS), high-lard/high-sugar (HLHS), and high-oil/high-sugar diet (soybean oil) (HOHS). Several parameters, such as serum biochemistry, histology, and liver mRNA expression, were accessed.

Results

The main findings revealed that the HLHS diet dramatically altered liver metabolism inducing hepatic steatosis and increased total cholesterol, triglycerides, VLDL, increasing liver CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (CEBP-α), Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and Catalase (CAT) mRNA expression. Moreover, the HLHS diet increased glucose intolerance and reduced insulin sensitivity.

Conclusions

High-fat/high-sugar diets are efficient to induce obesity and metabolic syndrome-associated alterations, and diets enriched with lard and sugar showed more effective results.

Keywords:

• Animal model
• dyslipidemia
• oxidative stress
• hyperglycaemia
• fat liver

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

Author contributions

VHDG study design, data analysis and drafting the article, DFL drafting the article, LMAB, LPO and FADG data analysis and acquisition of data, AMBP interpretation of data, SHSS, ALSG and LCF revising it critically for important intellectual content. Authors give final approval of the version to be submitted.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Coordenadoria de Aperfeiçoamento do Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico (CNPQ) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG).