In lab rats, eating a diet high in fat, sugar, and cholesterol causes worse liver damage than just eating a high-fat diet — with more signs of inflammation and scarring in the liver.

Feeding lab rats a super high-fat diet seems to cause liver inflammation and fat buildup, based on changes in key markers in their blood and liver.

In lab rats, eating a diet super high in fructose (like from sugary foods) makes their blood fat levels skyrocket—way more than other unhealthy diets—and this seems to mess up how their body handles fat overall, not just hurt the liver.

Feeding rats a diet super high in fructose for 4 months doesn’t really hurt their liver overall, even though a few tiny signs of fat buildup show up under a microscope.

Eating too much fructose, like the sugar in soda and sweet snacks, makes your liver create more fat, which raises bad fats in your blood and causes body-wide inflammation, making heart disease more likely.