Low weight gain, better glycaemia and no central obesity achieved through a high-protein diet

Azwan K, Mona R, Firdous J, Sari D K, David P R, Muhammad N*

Universiti Kuala Lumpur Royal College of Medicine, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

A compendium of metabolic diseases associated with unhealthy habits plague the modern world today. Weight gain, hyperglycemia and excess adiposity are some of the metabolic diseases plaguing our modern society. Unhealthy dietary habits coupled with a sedentary lifestyle are recognized as important factors for the development of some metabolic illnesses. Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia were recognized as stemming from metabolic dysregulation due to the consumption of excess calories from certain macronutrients. Our objective in this study is to find out which diet most affects circulating blood glucose levels, body weight, and visceral fat tissue deposition. 35 male Sprague - Dawley rats were separated into five groups and were given five distinct diets for the duration of 8 weeks. The five diets are normal rat feed, high-fat, high-protein, high-sugar, and high-starch. The feeding provided was ad libitum with tap water given as drinking water. Every week, each rat was weighed, and blood were sampled for glucose. Post-sacrifice, mesenteric fat was harvested, fixed, and stained for histological analysis. The results revealed a high-protein diet significantly reduces body weight gain, improved blood sugar with no development of central obesity. At the same time, a high-fat diet was shown to be a promoter of mesenteric fat tissue hypertrophy. It was concluded that the consumption of a high-protein diet was found to achieve low weight gain, better glycaemia with no central obesity.

Keywords:

Blood glucose, adiposity, body weight, high-protein diet