High saturated fat and low carbohydrate diet decreases lifespan independent of body weight in mice.
BACKGROUND
Obesity is a health problem that is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. We investigated the effects of a life-long high saturated fat and low carbohydrate (HF) diet on the body mass, glucose tolerance, cognitive performance and lifespan of mice.


RESULTS
C57BL/6J mice were fed with a HF diet (60% kcal/fat) or control diets (15% kcal/fat) for 27 months. One-half of the mice on the HF diet developed obesity (diet-induced obese (DIO) mice), whereas the remaining mice were diet resistant (DR). At 8 months of age, both DIO and DR groups had increased hyperglycemic response during a glucose tolerance test, which was normalized in 16-month-old mice. At this latter time point, all groups presented similar performance in cognitive tests (Morris water maze and inhibitory avoidance). The survival curves of the HF and control diet groups started to diverge at 15 months of age and, after 27 months, the survival rate of mice in the DIO and DR groups was 40%, whereas in the control diet group it was 75%.


CONCLUSIONS
AHFdiet decreased the survival of mice independent of bodyweight.
Departamento de Bioquímica, ICBS, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Ramiro Barcelos, 2600 - Anexo I, Porto Alegre, RS, 90035-000, Brazil. alexandrep.muller@gmail.com.
Alexandre Pastoris
AP
Muller
Marcelo de Oliveira
Mde O
Dietrich
Adriano
A
Martimbianco de Assis
Diogo Onofre
DO
Souza
Luis Valmor
LV
Portela