met treated animals received 0 07 mg u02dc 4 6 mg kg of the u03b2 met administered as a suspension in sesame oil by po intubation three times weekly the control animals received only sesame oil the mice were treated for a period of 14 weeks with access to purina laboratory chow and water ad libitum body weights were recorded weekly and food consumption was determined by subtracting the food remaining from the food supplied at the beginning of each week student 39 s t test was used in all statistical analyses of the data data are presented as means u00b1 sd from the four groups of mice differences were considered significant at p lt 0 01 treatment with 3 u03b2 methyl 5 u03b2 androstan 17 one significantly inhibits weight gain of both male and female c57 wh mice fig5 without suppressing appetite fig6 after 14 weeks the mean weight of the control male mouse was 24 8 g while that of the u03b2 met treated male mouse was 20 7 g the mean weight of the control female mouse was 26 1 g while that of the u03b2 met treated female mouse was 21 8 g the differences in mean weights of the control and u03b2 met treated male mice are statistically significant after the sixth week of treatment for the female control and.