HYPERCALORIC DIET MODELS IN RODENTS

Metabolic syndrome characterized by the occurrence of obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension and glucose intolerance collectively poses serious health concern to people worldwide. Consumption ofhypercaloric dietsin rodents provides a suitable model to mimic the human metabolic diseases. There are several forms of a diet to induce obesity that have proved effective and resemble human obesity in reality closely.Thesehypercaloricdiets are mostly composed by adding carbohydrates or fats and they vary between 3.7 Kcal/g and 5.4 Kcal/g.It’s of great concern that only very less researchers make sure that diets to be studied have identical nutrients differing only in relative amounts of fat and carbohydrate. This review aims to summarize the use of and factors associated with hypercaloric diet models for the induction of obesity as well as hyperlipidemia.

Keywords: Metabolic syndrome, obesity,hypercaloric diet