Experimental Obesity I. Production of Obesity in Rats by Feeding High-Fat Diets

Abstract

Obesity has been produced in normal male rats by the ad libitum feeding of a diet containing 63% of fat and adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals and protein. When weanling rats were fed this diet, they gained weight at a higher rate than rats on our “best” low-fat or stock diets. Three strains of rats have shown the same response. The maximum weight attained on the high-fat diet was 1655 gm. Approximately 70% of the weanling rats of the Osborne-Mendel strain randomly secured from the stock colony have attained weights over or close to 1000 gm when fed the high-fat diet. We believe that the obesity does not result from any genetic or hormonal distrubance.