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Updated: Jun 18, 2025

Palatable Western-style Cafeteria Diet as a Reliable Method for Modeling Diet-induced Obesity in Rodents
Published on: November 1, 2019
Western diets and chronic diseases
Timon E Adolph1, Herbert Tilg2
1Department of Internal Medicine I, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria. timon-erik.adolph@i-med.ac.at.
Abstract:
'Westernization', which incorporates industrial, cultural and dietary trends, has paralleled the rise of noncommunicable diseases across the globe. Today, the Western-style diet emerges as a key stimulus for gut microbial vulnerability, chronic inflammation and chronic diseases, affecting mainly the cardiovascular system, systemic metabolism and the gut. Here we review the diet of modern times and evaluate the threat it poses for human health by summarizing recent epidemiological, translational and clinical studies. We discuss the links between diet and disease in the context of obesity and type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, gut and liver diseases and solid malignancies. We collectively interpret the evidence and its limitations and discuss future challenges and strategies to overcome these. We argue that healthcare professionals and societies must react today to the detrimental effects of the Western diet to bring about sustainable change and improved outcomes in the future.
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