Medium chain triglyceride-ketogenic diet elevates fasting blood glucose, lipid profile and liver enzymes but protects against high fat diet-induced changes

Obesity is associated with increased body mass index, abnormal glucose metabolism, liver injury, as well as alterations in lipid metabolism.Medium chain triglycerideketogenic diet (MCT-KD) is a diet with the potential of reverse obesity and its complications.This study was designed to evaluate body weight, fasting blood glucose, lipid profile and serum liver enzymes in male Wistar rats fed with a high-fat diet and MCT-KD.Twenty male Wistar rats were divided into four groups of five animals each.Group I animals were fed with normal diet feed (NDF).Group II was fed with MCT-KD only, Group III was fed with a high-fat diet only (HFD), while Group IV was fed with both HFD and MCT-KD on alternate days for 3 weeks.The results showed a significant increase in body weight and fasting blood glucose in the groups fed with MCT-KD only and HFD only when compared to the animals fed with the NDF group.There was a significant decrease in serum levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein in the group fed with MCT-KD and HFD on alternate days compared to the HFD and NDF groups.There was a decrease in the level of aspartate aminotransferase enzyme in all the groups compared to NDF.The alkaline phosphatase and alanine aminotransferase levels were higher in the MCT-KD and HFD only groups.These findings suggest that while MCT-KD holds the potential in counteracting diet-induced metabolic changes, its independent effects warrant careful consideration.