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Nutrition Science Fair Project

Sugar Concentration and Weight Gain in Mice

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Sugar Concentration and Weight Gain in Mice | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
Does a higher sugar content in food lead to more weight gain? Apples contain about 50% sugar. Jelly beans contain about 70%. That difference might show up on the scale. You split 10 young mice into two groups of five. One group eats apples for 14 days. The other group eats the same weight of jelly beans. You weigh each mouse before and after the two weeks. The jelly bean group gained slightly more weight than the apple group. The difference suggests that higher sugar concentration plays a role in weight gain.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that baby mice fed with jelly beans will gain weight more quickly than those fed with apples.

Method & Materials

You will separate 10 baby mice into two groups, feed one group apples and the other jelly beans, and measure the weight gain of each group after two weeks.
You will need 10 baby mice, 14 apples, 1 large packet of jelly beans, 2 mice cages, 2 feeding trays, old newspaper, and a digital weighing scale.

Results

The results showed that the mice fed with jelly beans had a slightly higher weight gain compared to the mice fed with apples. This proves that eating too much sugar can lead to weight gain.

Why do this project?

This science project is interesting because it shows how eating too much sugar can lead to weight gain, even in mice.

Also Consider

Variations of this experiment could include comparing the weight gain of male and female mice given the two types of diet, or observing the weight variation of fully grown mice given food with different levels of sugar.

Full project details

Additional information and source material for this project are available below.

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