TABLE 2.

Concepts that should be considered when reporting nutrition research that utilizes animal models

Topic and concept	Recommendations
Experimental animal model
Rationale for use	Provide rationale for model used including its relevance to the health outcome being investigated and the food substance under investigation
Characteristics	Report details about the species, strain, sex, developmental stage, age, and body weight of the animal model used. Provide brief details to explain choice of strain, sex, developmental stage, age, and body weight of animal model used. Indicate relevance to the food substance intervention and outcome. Comment on randomizations, blinding, statistical methods, and actions to reduce bias.
Outcome	Provide a rationale for investigating the relation between the food substance of interest and the health outcome. Report the use of a surrogate biomarker or health status indicator to verify experimental heath outcome under investigation. Comment on the choice of tissue(s) analyzed for health outcome and relevance to the food substance under investigation. Provide a rationale for investigating nonoral routes for food substance interventions and how it affects the interpretation of results.
Nutritional component
Base diet	Provide details of diet formulation (i.e., complete ingredient list and their relative concentrations), manufacturer and catalog number, and lot numbers. If an open-formula diet was not used, provide a rationale for why a closed-formula diet was used. Indicate whether the concentration of the food substance of interest was verified in the diet. Provide details on method used to verify composition of diet. Comment on environmental factors that may influence dietary intake or confounding factors that might otherwise impact food substance exposure.
Intervention dose	Give full details on the concentration of dose used in the intervention, including that of the comparison diet (control); explain whether or not nutritional component was modified in the base diet or administered differently. Total exposure (base diet plus added amount, if applicable) should be reported. This would include consideration of food consumption to ensure equivalent intakes among groups. Provide a rationale for the doses used and relevance to adequate intakes (when established for an essential nutrient) or usual intakes for other food substances.
Duration of exposure	Provide a brief description to justify chosen duration of dietary intervention, including how it relates to the development of the outcome being measured.
Verification of exposure	Comment on the method used to verify exposure, such as the measurement of biomarkers of intake or status. Provide a rationale for the choice of tissues analyzed for the biomarkers of exposure.