Animal Studies

Topic summary contributed by volunteer(s): Randy

Injecting the human equivalent of ½ cup of ground pepper into the veins of mice can be deadly. Chinese dwarf hamsters fed the human equivalent of 300 cups of soy milk a day also did not fare very well. Acrylamide has been found to cause cancer in lab rats. Severe caloric restriction has been found to extend the lives and improve cognition of animals in laboratories. Seventy years ago, a Swedish researcher first showed that feeding mice roasted horse muscles caused cancer. Retail US beef was fed to dogs, and parasites were excreted by nearly every dog. The effects of a horsemeat based Atkins diet on rats was also studied. Blueberries have been found to improve memory in elderly rats. We now know that rats are much better at converting folic acid into folate than humans, which has public health implications. Potassium sorbate has been found to be harmless to Syrian hamsters but harmful to Chinese hamster lung cells. Research on rats found that AGEs were not absorbed very well and dietary sources were dismissed; this has not been found to be true of humans. Current cancer treatment is based on animal models. The addition to acai berries to cigarettes had a protective effect on smoking mice.

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