Leucine supplementation protects from HF-induced body weight gain and adiposity by increasing energy expenditure and fatty acid oxidation.

<p>(A) Body weight curve and (B) mean daily food intake of mice exposed to HFD or chow and supplemented or not with leucine in drinking water (n = 10–11 per group). (C) Fat mass and (D) lean mass at week 0 (baseline), as well as at weeks 7 and 15 of the study (n = 10–11 per group). (E) Feed efficiency in chow-fed and HFD-fed mice supplemented or not with leucine in drinking water (n = 10–11 per group). Energy expenditure (F), respiratory quotient (G) and locomotor activity (H) in HFD-fed mice supplemented or not with leucine in drinking water (n = 6–8 per group). Arrows in (A) indicates when <i>in vivo</i> experiments were carried out. EE: energy expenditure analysis; MRI: magnetic resonance imaging whole-body composition analysis; RQ: respiratory quotient. ^*<i>p</i><0.05 vs. HFD-water group; ^#<i>p</i><0.05 vs. chow-fed groups, ^§<i>p</i><0.05 vs. dark phase.