-Female C57BL/6J mice were fed a regular low-fat diet or high-fat diets combined with either high or low protein-to-sucrose ratios during their entire lifespan to examine the long-term effects on obesity development, gut microbiota, and survival. Intake of a high-fat diet with a low protein/sucrose ratio precipitated obesity and reduced survival relative to mice fed a low-fat diet. By contrast, intake of a high-fat diet with a high protein/sucrose ratio attenuated lifelong weight gain and adipose tissue expansion, and survival was not significantly altered relative to low-fat-fed mice. Our findings support the notion that reduced survival in response to high-fat/high-sucrose feeding is linked to obesity development. Digital gene expression analyses, further validated by qPCR, demonstrated that the protein/sucrose ratio modulated global gene expression over time in liver and adipose tissue, affecting pathways related to metabolism and inflammation. Analysis of fecal bacterial DNA using the Mouse Intestinal Tract Chip revealed significant changes in the composition of the gut microbiota in relation to host age and dietary fat content, but not the protein/sucrose ratio. Accordingly, dietary fat rather than the protein/sucrose ratio or adiposity is a major driver shaping the gut microbiota, whereas the effect of a high-fat diet on survival is dependent on the protein/sucrose ratio.high-protein diet; high-fat diet; survival; obesity; gut microbiota INTAKE OF HIGH-FAT DIETS has been associated with the development of obesity and several metabolic dysfunctions, including insulin resistance, hepatic steatosis, hyperlipidemia, and low-grade systemic inflammation (42). Diets with more than 30% energy originating from fat promote obesity in mice, and high-fat diet-induced obesity is a frequently used rodent model for studies on obesity and related metabolic disorders (15). However, these models cannot be used to distinguish whether the observed metabolic dysfunctions result from the obese state or from the high-fat feeding. Rodent studies have shown that obesity is prevented if the increase in dietary fat is accompanied by a high protein-to-sucrose ratio (12,14,30,32,33,36). This may reflect higher satiety and diet-induced thermogenesis when the protein content in the diet is increased (31). Conversely, reducing the fat content from 40 to 30 energy% is sufficient to counteract insulin resistance in rodents (16). Together with the finding that glucose intolerance and insulin resistance are detectable within the first week of high-fat feeding, these findings suggest that development of insulin resistance and glucose intolerance may be directly related to the dietary fat content and not to obesity (50).Even though a high intake of fat may lead to metabolic disturbances prior to the onset of obesity, it is generally acknowledged that obesity reduces longevity (2) and is associated with increased all-cause mortality in humans (11). It is also well documented that energy restriction increases, whereas high-fat feeding reduces li...