It has been hypothesized that fructose and fat may induce their inflammatory action in the liver not only by dietary overload, but also by stimulation of bacterial overgrowth in the intestine, increasing intestinal permeability and thereby facilitating translocation of endotoxins across the intestinal barrier that are then transported to the liver [46, 47]. In the present study, we were not able to detect increased intestinal levels of TNF-alpha or MCP-1 in any diet group. Moreover, we did not find increased levels of MCP-1 and TNF-alpha in visceral adipose tissue in any of the groups, even though inflammation particularly in the adipose tissue compartment is strongly associated with NAFLD/NASH in humans . Notably, the cytokine analyses in this study were performed on epididymal fat depots, which may not adequately represent visceral adipose tissue depots in humans .