Maedbh Lillis

910701342

Informative Abstract

Overweight and obesity are major health issues impacting both adults and children.

Obesity is caused by multiple factors - fat accumulation is determined by both nature and

nurture (genetics, behavioral, and environmental influences). The researchers hypothesized that

consuming a high-fat diet could lead to individuals that were both obesity-prone and

obesity-resistant. Both types of individuals would display inflamed white adipose tissue. To test

this hypothesis, forty-nine healthy male wistar rats were randomly assigned to control, margarine,

and lard groups. Rats in the control group were given regular feed that contained 10% kilocalories

from fat. The remaining groups were fed formulas that were either enriched with margarine or

lard. An in vivo comparison of white adipose tissue, adiposity, and glucose and lipid metabolism

was then performed.

Rats that were found to be obesity-prone (OP) that were fed lard or margarine displayed

significant weight gain as opposed to the control group. The rats in the margarine-fed obesity

prone/obesity resistant and lard-fed obesity-prone groups accumulated significantly more fat in

the epididymal and retroperitoneal areas than the control rats. High lard and margarine intake was

found to be correlated with variable amounts of inflammation in subcutaneous, epididymal and

retroperitoneal adipose depots. In conclusion, the evidence supported the hypothesis of high-fat

diets producing differing phenotypes with similar patterns of inflammation. The research findings

suggested that a dietary intake high in margarine or lard has the ability to induce inflammation in
specific adipose depots and decrease activity of anti-inflammatory M2 macrophages in white

adipose tissue.

 References

Nannan W., Jie G., Fuding L., Mingxia W., Chuntao L., Lihong J., Lingling Z., Wei W.,

Yinglong., (2017) Depot-specific inflammation with decreased expression of ATM2

in white adipose tissues induced by high-margarine/lard intake.PLoS ONE12(11):

e0188007. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188007