Given a web application with high traffic, which loading strategy would you choose to optimize database performance and why?

Eager loading would be the preferred choice in this scenario. It retrieves all necessary data upfront, minimizing the number of database round-trips, which is crucial for high-traffic applications to maintain responsiveness. Lazy loading, on the other hand, could lead to N+1 query issues, causing performance bottlenecks. Explicit loading allows for more control but is less efficient than eager loading for high-traffic scenarios. No loading would result in empty or incomplete data, not suitable for a web application.