At 12 weeks of age, ZDF rats exhibited an increase in systolic blood pressure, epididymal fat weight per body weight, hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance (HOMA index), adipocyte hypertrophy and a rise in basal superoxide anion (O2•−) production in gastrocnemius muscle and a downregulation of epididymal uncoupled protein-1 (UCP-1) protein staining. Here, UCP1 is linked to Insulin resistance.