High-fat but not sucrose intake is essential for induction of dyslipidemia and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in guinea pigs

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and dyslipidemia are closely related. Diet plays an important role in the progression of these diseases, but the role of specific dietary components is not completely understood. Therefore, we investigated the role of dietary sucrose and fat/cholesterol on the development of dyslipidemia and NAFLD. Seventy female guinea pigs were block-randomized (based on weight) into five groups and fed a normal chow diet (control: 4 % fat), a very high-sucrose diet (vHS: 4 % fat, 25 % sucrose), a high-fat diet (HF: 20 % fat, 0.35 % cholesterol), a high-fat/high-sucrose diet (HFHS: 20 % fat, 15 % sucrose, 0.35 % cholesterol) or a high-fat/very high-sucrose diet (HFvHS: 20 % fat, 25 % sucrose, 0.35 % cholesterol) for 16 and 25 weeks. All three high-fat diets induced dyslipidemia with increased concentrations of plasma cholesterol (p