mouse by Brian_Kellett, on Flickr

Ah, bless CNN Health. They published a blog post today about a recent study done and reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation which states, quite frighteningly that “in both humans and rodent models, obesity is associated with injury to a key brain area for energy homeostasis.” In other words, a high fat diet is implicated in making and keeping you fat.

Whew! I’m not at risk because I’m sure no model! (Ha, little joke there.)

But seriously. First of all, I don’t know about you, but I am not a rodent. Secondly, I have read the entire study and at no point do the authors discuss what constitutes a high fat diet for humans. My guess is that like most other scientific studies examining “fat”, the major constituent of the diet was actually vegetable oil, not animal fat.

The rodents were provided “either standard laboratory chow (3.34 kcal/g; PMI Nutrition International) or a diet containing 60% kcal fat (HFD, 5.24 kcal/g, D12492; Research Diets) for periods ranging from 1 day to 8 months.”

High fat D12492 chow consists of:

Protein 26.2%
Carbohydrate 26.3%
Fat 34.9%

The major source of fat is lard, but soybean oil (an oil, not a fat) is a major portion of the calories as well. Protein is provided almost exclusively by casein, the protein in milk; carbohydrates come almost totally from cellulose; it is sweetened with maltodextrose and sucrose.

We don’t know exactly what the “standard laboratory chow” is because that specific product is not listed among their offerings, but PMI’s “mouse chow” is listed with this breakdown:

Protein 19.8%
Fat 25.3%
Carbohydrates 54.8%

The main sources of protein are soybean meal, brewer’s yeast, whey and casein. Fat comes from “porcine animal fat preserved with BHA” (aka lard) and soybean oil. Carbohydrates are from ground wheat and corn and wheat germ. I’m seeing some pretty significant differences in the source of protein and carbs there, are you? Wheat and corn, for example, are (ahem) FOOD, and cellulose is…well, it’s hard to say what the source of this particular cellulose is. It could be from algae, or wood, or cotton, we aren’t told.

The Mayo Clinic calls a diet that high (55-60%) in carbohydrates carb-loading and warns that it may lead to weight gain and blood sugar regulation issues. But it’s apparently the “standard” of mouse chow.

If mice really do well 55% carbs, then I can see where bumping their fat intake 10% might give them an issue. The USDA food pyramid numbers work out to about 63% carbs, and we all know the road that has led us down.

The brain is made of fat. It runs on fat. Restricting healthy saturated dietary fat causes memory loss, depression, anxiety and a whole host of other issues. Vegetable oils don’t work the same way.

But my main gripes are the same as it always is in studies of this kind:

  1. Humans are not rodents.
  2. Oil is not fat.
  3. If we were to restrict our diet the way these animals have been restricted, it would not surprise me to find all kinds of odd problems popping up.

Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made. We have an entire planet of food to enjoy which, when grown organically and biodynamically, prepared traditionally and lovingly, and eaten joyfully and thankfully, provide us the nutrition we require for properly functioning brains, kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, and everything else. So, let me ask you: are you a man or a mouse?

This post is part of Fight Back Friday, hosted by Food Renegade.

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