Western Diets

Traditional “western” diets.  To study the effects of a “typical” modern diet of North America and Europe, a number of versions of a “Western Diet” had been developed by various researchers and manufacturers; these diets were characterized by:

·         ≈ 4.5 kcal /gram

·         ≈ 40% kcal from milkfat

·         ≈ 15-16% kcal from protein

·         ≈ 0.2% cholesterol

Traditional Western diets:

TestDiet^® 5342 also known as D12079B  (based on AIN-76A, TestDiet^® 58B0)

TestDiet^® 57BD  (based on TestDiet^® 5755 Basal Diet)

The new TestDiet^® 21^st Century Western Diet^TM, TestDiet^® 5TJN, has similar characteristics (with some notable exceptions) in order to provide a complex combination of ingredients more closely resembling a complex human diet:

·         The fat is from a variety of sources—lard, hydrogenated vegetable oil, butterfat, as well as both corn oil and soy oil.

·         The fiber is both insoluble (cellulose) and soluble (inulin).

Atherosclerosis Note:  Many diets with added cholesterol also incorporate cholic acid (sodium cholate) to very effectively facilitate cholesterol absorption/utilization.  However, cholic acid appears to be contraindicated for atherosclerosis studies and is not used by most researchers for such studies.

See also: