Table 3.

Average daily food consumption, body weight, average daily water consumption and relative liver weight as influenced by treating mice for 4 weeks with standard diet and orally with metformin HCl tablets or intra-gastrically with three different concentrations of inulin^* (Mean values with their standard errors)

	Average daily food consumption (g/d)		Body weight after 4-week treatment (g)		Average daily water consumption (ml/d)		Relative liver weight (%)
Treatment group	Mean	se	Mean	se	Mean	se	Mean	se
CK†	3·15c	0·12	25·20a	0·24	3·57c	0·23	4·64d	0·11
H‡	3·15c	0·06	23·49c	0·23	14·13a	0·57	7·35a	0·36
CP§	4·52a	0·14	24·41b	0·18	13·78a	0·42	6·11b	0·11
LJ||	4·68a	0·13	24·08b	0·21	15·30a	0·79	5·58b,c	0·14
MJ¶	4·47a	0·11	23·37c	0·17	14·31a	0·38	5·43c	0·23
HJ**	3·89b	0·15	22·70d	0·17	10·58b	0·43	5·48c	0·14

^a,b,c,d Mean values in a column with unlike superscript letters are significantly different (P ≤ 0·05).

^*Inulin (isolated from Jerusalem artichoke tubers) is a short-chain polymer of fructose molecules containing a high concentration of fructan.

^†CK, standard diet + physiological saline of 5 g/kg per d (blank control).

^‡H, standard diet + physiological saline of 5 g/kg per d (experimental control group with induced diabetes).

^§CP, standard diet + metformin HCl tablets of 125 mg/kg per d.

^||LJ, standard diet + inulin of 2·5 g/kg per d.

^¶MJ, standard diet + inulin of 5 g/kg per d.

^**HJ, standard diet + inulin of 10 g/kg per d.