Development of shoulder osteoarthritis and bone lesions in female and male rats subjected to a high fat/sucrose diet

Abughazaleh N, Smith H, Seerattan RA, Hart DA, Reimer RA, Herzog W · Scientific Reports

A negative result that sharpens the positive ones. Shoulders in both sexes appeared **protected** from degeneration on the same diet that damages knees in this model, while male rats developed bone lesions and females did not. Fibre supplementation helped males more than females. The implication is that a metabolic diet does not damage all joints equally — load and joint matter.

Population

Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats across chow, high-fat/high-sucrose, and high-fat/high-sucrose plus prebiotic fibre groups, 12 weeks

Intervention

High-fat/high-sucrose diet, with or without prebiotic fibre

Comparator

Chow diet

Limitations

Rats, 12 weeks, histological scoring, and small groups in two of the six arms (n=6 for fibre-fed males). A shoulder is a low-load joint in a quadruped, which may be the whole explanation.