title: Short-term and long-term effects of excessive consumption of saturated fats and/or sucrose on metabolic variables in Sprague Dawley rats: a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Feeding high-fat and/or high-sugar diets to rats leads to a change in markers of metabolic syndrome. However, types and amounts of fat and sugar as well as the length of the experiment for establishing diet-induced metabolic syndrome in the Sprague Dawley (SD) rat model remain uncertain. This study was designed to investigate the effects in SD rats of consuming excess lard, sucrose or a combination of lard and sucrose for a short (4 week) or long (8 week) period of time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Consumption of the high-fat high-sugar (HFHS) diet significantly increased weight gain and abdominal fat weights (P < 0.05), and the rats also began to develop signs of impaired glucose tolerance and had increased fasting blood lipids glucose and insulin concentrations. The high-fat (HF) diet mainly affected weight gain and fat deposition, whereas the high-sugar (HS) diet induced glucose intolerance but not the obesity-related parameters. Control rats showed a tendency towards insulin resistance and glucose intolerance when fed for a long-term period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The lard plus sucrose-based HFHS diet is the most efficient one for inducing signs of metabolic syndrome, and SD rats fed this diet for 8 weeks successfully develop obesity and insulin resistance, which can be used as a model for metabolic syndrome research.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Araya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pranprawit
authors.forename: Frances M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Wolber
authors.forename: Julian A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Heyes
authors.forename: Abdul L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Molan
authors.forename: Marlena C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kruger
mesh_terms: D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001823:Body Composition; D059305:Diet, High-Fat / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004041:Dietary Fats; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018149:Glucose Intolerance / Q000209:etiology; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology; D009929:Organ Size; D010865:Pilot Projects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013997:Time Factors; D015430:Weight Gain
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D004041:Dietary Fats; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D007328:Insulin; D008055:Lipids; C029310:lard
keywords: diet; fat; metabolic syndrome; rat model; sugar