Use of experimental animals in human nutrition research--some justifications and precautions.

The precautions mentioned above are not to deny the importance of experiments on animals to elucidate problems in human nutrition. However, researchers must continue to question the appropriateness of the species, age and sex of animal, strain, diet composition, method of administration of the diet, adaptation to the diet, duration of the experiment, methods of tissue sampling, the role of nondietary factors, such as exercise and stress, and other factors appropriate to the questions being asked.