How to Make a Rat Obese
(another interesting posting from the same blogger as the chocolate Ensure experiment)
Rodents are an important model organism for the study of human obesity. To study obesity in rodents, you have to make them fat first. There are many ways to do this.... However, the most rapid and effective way to make a normal (non-mutant, non-lesioned) rodent obese is the "cafeteria diet." The cafeteria diet first appeared in the medical literature in 1979 (1), and was quickly adopted by other investigators.
In this model, animals are allowed free access to standard chow and water while concurrently offered highly palatable, energy dense, unhealthy human foods ad libitum.
In other words, they're given an unlimited amount of human junk food in addition to their whole food-based "standard chow." In this particular paper, the junk foods included Froot Loops, Cocoa Puffs, peanut butter cookies, Reese's Pieces, Hostess Blueberry MiniMuffins, Cheez-its, nacho cheese Doritos, hot dogs, cheese, wedding cake, pork rinds, pepperoni slices and other industrial delicacies.
Rats exposed to this food almost completely ignored their healthier, more nutritious and less palatable chow, instead gorging on junk food and rapidly attaining an obese state.
This is the reason that I need to keep the above mentioned toxic foods out of the house...practice environmental control...At the very least I must keep them away from my sense of sight and smell.
How to make a rat obese
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- Blithe Morning
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I think the unlimited (how) was as significant as the Froot Loops, Cocoa Puffs, peanut butter cookies, Reese's Pieces, etc. (what).
A while back I was eating some sort of cracker and ate and ate ate. I literally felt I could not stop. And it wasn't even that good after all was done. A very odd experience.
A while back I was eating some sort of cracker and ate and ate ate. I literally felt I could not stop. And it wasn't even that good after all was done. A very odd experience.