Figure 1. Body weights and body fatness over time.

Average body weight (gm) of each diet group from 3 to 60 weeks of age (a). C57BL/6N female mice were weaned at 3 weeks of age and randomly assigned to control, high-fat, or energy restriction diet until 21 weeks of age (phase 1). From 22 to 60 weeks of age (phase 2), animals either remained on the same diet or switched to one of the other two diets they were not fed in phase 1, by which the study was expanded to 9 arms. C-C: control-control; C-E: control-energy restriction; C-H: control-high fat; E-C: energy restriction-control; E-E: energy restriction- energy restriction; E-H: energy restriction-high fat; H-C: high fat-control; H-E: high fat- energy restriction; H-H: high fat-high fat. Phase 1 diets were presented by different colors with red for CON, green for HF, and blue for ER. Phase 2 diet were presented by different line formats with solid line for CON, dot-dash line for HF, and dash line for ER. Body fat (clear bar) and body weights (dark bar) of a subset of animals from at 15 (b, n = 9), 33 (c, n = 4 ~ 6), and 60 (d, n = 4 ~ 6) weeks were shown between diet groups (n = 4 ~ 9). Different letters in upper case denote significant differences in body weight. Different letters in lower case denote significant differences in body fatness. p < 0.05; one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni adjustment. Data are means ± SEM.