Influence on Adiposity and Atherogenic Lipaemia of Fatty Meals and Snacks in Daily Life

Evodiamine Lowers Blood Lipids by Up-Regulating the PPARγ/ABCG1 Pathway in High-Fat-Diet-Fed Mice

The natural alkaloid evodiamine enhances cholesterol efflux from cultured THP-1-derived macrophages, but whether it has any impact on blood lipids in vivo remains unknown. In this study, the effect of evodiamine on hyperlipidemia induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) was investigated in mice. Intragastric administrations of evodiamine (10 and 20 mg/kg) for 8 weeks resulted in a significant improvement of metabolic lipid profiles by reducing the plasma levels of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Evodiamine also significantly decreased hepatic lipid accumulation and hepatic total bile acids (TBA). Mechanistically, evodiamine increased ATP-binding cassette transporter G1 (ABCG1) mRNA and protein expression and up-regulated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) expression in the liver. Taken together, the natural product evodiamine lowers blood lipids in HFD-fed mice likely through promoting the PPARγ-ABCG1 signaling pathway.

Effect of dietary oils from various sources on carbohydrate and fat metabolism in mice

Background

Dietary oils differ in their fatty acid composition and the presence of additional microcomponents (antioxidants, etc.). These differences are thought to invoke different biochemical pathways, thus affecting fats and carbohydrates metabolism differently. Olive oil (OO) and soybean oil (SO) are common vegetable oils in the local cuisine. Peanuts oils of local varieties are viewed as potential sources of dietary vegetable oils, especially in the food industry.

Objective

We examined the effect of four different dietary vegetable oils on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in mice. The selected oils were OO, high in oleic acid, extracted from cultivated high oleic acid peanut (C-PO), regular peanut oil (PO), and SO.

Design

In this study, 32 male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into four groups (n = 8 in each group) and were fed with four different diets enriched with 4% (w/w) dietary vegetable oils (OO, C-PO, PO, or SO). After 10 weeks, the mice were sacrificed. Western blot was used to examine proteins such as phospho-AMP-activated protein kinase (p-AMPK), ace-tyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36), and Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), whereas real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to examine the expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1C), fatty acid synthase (FAS), glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase), and CD36 transcripts.

Results

In mice-fed SO, lipid accumulation was predominately in adipose tissue, accompanied a tendency decrease in insulin sensitivity. Mice-fed OO had lower plasma triglycerides (TG) and increased hepatic CD36 gene expression. The C-PO group presented lower messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in the liver for all examined genes: SREBP-1c, FAS, G6Pase, and CD36. There were no significant differences in weight gain, plasma cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels, hepatic ACC, SIRT1, AMPK, and CD36 protein levels or in liver function among the diets.

Discussion

It seems that as long as fat is consumed in moderation, oil types may play a lesser role in the metabolism of healthy individuals.

Conclusion

This finding has the potential to increase flexibility in choosing oil types for consumption.

Exercise and High-Fat Diet in Obesity: Functional Genomics Perspectives of Two Energy Homeostasis Pillars

The heavy impact of obesity on both the population general health and the economy makes clarifying the underlying mechanisms, identifying pharmacological targets, and developing efficient therapies for obesity of high importance. The main struggle facing obesity research is that the underlying mechanistic pathways are yet to be fully revealed. This limits both our understanding of pathogenesis and therapeutic progress toward treating the obesity epidemic. The current anti-obesity approaches are mainly a controlled diet and exercise which could have limitations. For instance, the “classical” anti-obesity approach of exercise might not be practical for patients suffering from disabilities that prevent them from routine exercise. Therefore, therapeutic alternatives are urgently required. Within this context, pharmacological agents could be relatively efficient in association to an adequate diet that remains the most efficient approach in such situation. Herein, we put a spotlight on potential therapeutic targets for obesity identified following differential genes expression-based studies aiming to find genes that are differentially expressed under diverse conditions depending on physical activity and diet (mainly high-fat), two key factors influencing obesity development and prognosis. Such functional genomics approaches contribute to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that both control obesity development and switch the genetic, biochemical, and metabolic pathways toward a specific energy balance phenotype. It is important to clarify that by “gene-related pathways”, we refer to genes, the corresponding proteins and their potential receptors, the enzymes and molecules within both the cells in the intercellular space, that are related to the activation, the regulation, or the inactivation of the gene or its corresponding protein or pathways. We believe that this emerging area of functional genomics-related exploration will not only lead to novel mechanisms but also new applications and implications along with a new generation of treatments for obesity and the related metabolic disorders especially with the modern advances in pharmacological drug targeting and functional genomics techniques.

Extra-Virgin Olive Oil with Natural Phenolic Content Exerts an Anti-Inflammatory Effect in Adipose Tissue and Attenuates the Severity of Atherosclerotic Lesions in Ldlr-/-.Leiden Mice

SCOPE

The present study investigates the effect of olive oils with different phenolic content in high-fat diets (HFDs) on hypertrophy and inflammation in adipose tissue and associated atherosclerosis, in the context of obesity.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Ldlr-/-.Leiden mice were fed three different HFDs for 32 weeks and were compared with mice fed the standard low-fat diet (LFD). The different fats provided in the HFDs were lard (HFD-L), extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO; 79 mg kg^-1 of phenolic compounds, HFD-EVOO), or EVOO rich in phenolic compounds (OL, 444 mg kg^-1 of phenolic compounds, HFD-OL). All HFD-fed mice became obese, but only HFD-L-induced adipocyte hypertrophy. HFD-EVOO mice exhibited the greatest levels of Adiponectin in adipose tissue and presented atherosclerotic lesions similar to the LFD group, with a very low count of monocyte/macrophage compared with HFD-L and HFD-OL mice. Enrichment of the phenolic content of olive oil reduced the secretion of nitrites/nitrates in the aorta, but atherosclerosis was not attenuated in HFD-OL mice compared to other HFD mice.

CONCLUSION

Consumption of olive oil with a natural content of phenolic compounds attenuates adipose tissue hypertrophy and inflammation and exerts antiatherosclerotic effects in mice. A higher phenolic content of olive oil did not provide further benefits in the prevention of atherosclerosis.

Episodic Frequency of Energy-Dense Food Consumption in Women with Excessive Adiposity

Each episode of fatty or sugary food consumption contributes to the pathophysiological alterations found in obesity. The present study estimated episodic frequency of energy-dense food (EDF) consumption in 348 adult women with excessive adiposity. Participants reported in open questions their habitual exercise and EDF consumption per week. Body fat percentage was measured using electric impedance analysis. Variations in EDF consumption by age, fat mass, and exercise levels were examined by factorial analysis of variance. The frequency of consumption of EDF was on average 12 times per week and it did not vary significantly across subgroups. It is argued that, to reduce obesity and its comorbidities, lowering a high episodic frequency of EDF consumption could be recommended in clinical settings.