Nutritional profile of High Fat Simple Carbohydrate Diet used to induce metabolic syndrome in C57BL/6J mice

•Realistic High Fat Simple Carbohydrate Diet formulated in study.•In depth food analysis of the formulated diet revealed HFSC diet is nutritionally poor.•Structural abnormalities seen in vital organs in HFSC diet fed mice.

PurposeMany diet based studies on metabolic syndrome lack an in-depth study of feed nutrient profile post preparation. We analyzed the nutritional profile of formulated High Fat Simple Carbohydrate (HFSC) feed and studied its effect on target organs.MethodsControl feed and HFSC feed were analyzed for macro and micronutrient profile and fed to one month male C57BL/6J mice for 5 months during which feed intake, energy intake and feed efficiency was monitored. The effects of feeds were preliminarily studied on kidney, liver, adrenal gland and pancreas by histological staining.ResultsThe HFSC feed had significantly lower carbohydrate, moisture, crude fiber, ash content, mineral, vitamin content, higher ω-6/ω-3 fatty acid ratio as compared to control feed. The HFSC fed mice had higher food intake; energy intake; feed efficiency; lymphocyte infiltration in the liver; hypertrophy of the kidney, adrenal medulla and degenerated islets of pancreas as compared to the control mice after 5 months of feeding.ConclusionFood with a higher ω-6/ω-3 fatty acid ratio and simple carbohydrate leads to deterioration of structural integrity of vital organs.