Avaliação do impacto de dietas hipercalóricas com diferentes percentuais de participação de alimentos ultraprocessados em parâmetros antropométricos, bioquímicos e oxidativos de ratos Wistar

Abstract

A parallel can be traced between the increase in disponibility and consumption of ultraprocessed foods and the rise in obesity’s prevalence in Brazil, as shown by epidemiological evidence. Ultraprocessed foods are hypercaloric and nutritionally unbalanced formulations obtained from extensive industrial processing. The correlation amongst the role of ultraprocessed foods in obesity is strongly supported by population studies, however, an important gap in clinical and pre-clinical studies remains to be filled. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the impact of diets with the same total energy content and different percentages of UPF on food ingestion, anthropometric, biochemical, endocrine and oxidative parameters in Wistar rats. The animals were divided as Control group (given the standard rat chow), AIN 93G group, receiving the homonymous diet (which served as a positive control and defined the caloric content of the remaining diets); the intervention groups had their food composition defined by the Family Budget Survey (POF 2017-18), a nationwide dietary survey, with the objective of creating a diet induced obesity model that properly represented the contemporary brazilian eating habits. POF and UP diets had 20% and 40% ultraprocessed foods content, respectively. The results obtained showed that POF diet caused the most adiposity independently from a higher food ingestion and caloric consumption. An increase in the levels of insulin and leptin was also found in this group, hormones which are crucial to the regulation of energy homeostasis, that demonstrate impaired action during obesity, corroborating with the hypothesis that ultaprocessed foods affect negatively the hunger/satiety control. Levels of reactive oxygen species were found increased in the UP group, however, no oxidative damage was demonstrated on serum or tissues. Other analyzed parameters showed little to no statistical significance. The results indicated the obesogenic potential of the current brazilian dietary pattern and the need of further studies to elucidate the mechanisms involved. To summarize, it was possible to obtain supporting evidence to the importance of reducing the consumption of ultraprocessed foods as a prevention and treatment of obesity.