Consumption of high energy density (HED) diets is associated with obesity. This study investigated the long-term (6 months) effects of an HED diet on body composition, gut microbiome, hepatic lipidosis, microglia activation in the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), and systemic inflammation in rats. Results showed that HED diet induced microbiota dysbiosis within a week, followed by microglia activation in the NTS and hepatic lipidosis after 4 weeks. Changes in serum cytokine profiles were observed after 26 weeks. This suggests that microbiota dysbiosis is an early response to HED diets, followed by liver fat accumulation, brain microglia activation, and increased inflammatory markers.

Dulce M. Minaya, Anna Turlej, Abhinav Joshi, Tamas Nagy, Noah Weinstein, Patricia DiLorenzo, Andras Hajnal, Krzysztof Czaja