Background/Aim: Obesity currently affects the whole world, with greater incidence in high-income countries, with vast economic and social costs. Broccoli harvest generates many by-products equally rich in bioactive compounds with potential anti-obesity effects. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-obesity effects of broccoli byproducts flour (BF) in obese mice. Materials and Methods: A commercial high-fat diet formulation (representing a Western diet) was used to induce obesity in mice. BF (0.67% or 1.34% weight/weight) was incorporated as a chemoprevention compound into a control and a hypercholesterolemic diet, at two different concentrations, and fed for 14 weeks to C57BL/6J mice. For a therapeutic approach, two groups were fed with the hypercholesterolemic diet for 10 weeks, and then fed with BF-supplemented diets in the last 4 weeks of the study. Results: BF supplementation helped to maintain a lower body weight, reduced adipose tissue accumulation, and enhanced the basal activity of superoxide dismutase and glutathione S-transferase. Although BF supplementation tended to reduce the relative liver weight increased by the Western diet, the differences were not significant. Conclusion: BF appears to have a beneficial effect in preventing weight gain and fat accumulation induced by hypercholesterolemic diets.The incidence of obesity has increased at an alarming rate, constituting a global public health concern with vast economic and social costs (1). This disease has been classified as an epidemic by the World Health Organization since 1997 (2). Obesity is a risk factor for a range of chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer, psychological problems, among others (3-6). Obesity 2173

Precise oral dosing in rodents is usually achieved by intragastric gavage. If performed incorrectly due to technical difficulties, inexperience, or animal resistance, oral gavage may have animal welfare implications such as esophageal and gastric rupture and aspiration. The stress that is induced by this procedure can also lead to confounding results. In several animal models, drug vehicles must be sugar-free, deliver drugs in a specific formulation, and sometimes supply water. Gelatin has all of these properties. The current study aimed to evaluate the use of gelatin vehicles with different sensory features as an alternative to oral gavage. We investigated the time taken by 2 different inbred mouse strains, FVB/N and C57BL/6J, to ingestsugar-free gelatin pellets of varying flavors. Results showed that FVB/N mice took more time to eat the unflavored, strawberryand diet-flavored gelatin pellets than did C57BL/6J mice. Both strains showed low preference for lemon flavor, with the sameingestion times after the second day. This study showed that the C57BL/6J mice are more likely to eat gelatin than are FVB/Nmice, and that the 2 strains of mice show a lower preference for lemon flavoring as compared with other flavors. This methodof voluntarily oral administration offers an alternative to gavage for studies that use oral dosing studies.