• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.55 no.2
• /
• pp.85-94
• /
• 2012

The anti-obese, hypolipidemic and hepatoprotective effects of post-fermented green tea by Monascus pilosus was tested with mice fed with high-fat diet for 7 weeks. The body weight gain and feed efficiency ratio (FER) in normal control group (NC), CHA (2% non-fermented green tea powder supplemented high-fat diet group) and mCHA (2% green tea powder post-fermented by M. pilosus supplemented high fat diet group) groups were significantly lower than those of high fat diet control group (HC). Epididymal fat weight in mCHA and NC were significantly lower than HC. The hepatic lipid peroxide was dramatically higher in HC than that of NC and was significantly lower in CHA and mCHA. In addition, dehydrogenase type activity of xanthine oxidoreductase in HC was lower than that of NC, but significantly higher than CHA and mCHA. In histopathological findings, hepatic fat accumulation in HC was higher than that of NC, CHA and mCHA. Antiobese, hypolipidemic and antifatty liver effect of green tea powder post-fermented by M. pilosus was slightly higher than that of non-fermented green tea. In conclusion, the constituents of green tea fermented by M. pilosus has been proven to not only inhibit obesity and hyperlipidemia but also decrease the hepatic fat accumulation in high fat diet-induced obese mice.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.437-444
• /
• 2008

Anti-obesity effects of ginseng and herbal plant mixtures were investigated to develop natural materials for anti-obesity. After inducing obesity with high fat diet for 8 weeks in male SD rats, ginseng and herbal plant mixtures DM1 (ginseng, puer tea, opuntia) and DM2 (ginseng, puer tea) were administrated orally to rats for another 8 weeks. During administration, food efficacy ratio and body weight of rat were measured twice weekly. After administration, body weight, body fat contents, and serum lipid level were estimated for anti-obesity effect and hematological analysis blood level of ALP and ASP was checked for safety. Body weight in rats fed high fat diet was significantly increased. Body weight in obese rats induced by high fat diet was significantly decreased by DM1 and DM2 feedings. The amount of body fat (epididymal, perirenal and visceral fat, brown adipose tissue) was significantly reduced by DM1 and DM2 treatments. The amount of TG, the concentration of leptin in blood plasma, and the concentration of insulin in blood plasma were significantly diminished by DM1 and DM2. Lipid accumulation on liver was reduced in DM2. There were no side effects among all groups according to blood analysis, hematological findings, and body weight. The findings of this study suggest that DM1 and DM2 may be effective materials for anti-obesity through reducing plasma triglyceride and body fats, and also decreasing body weight without side effects.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.52 no.6
• /
• pp.529-539
• /
• 2019

Purpose: Sprouts of evening primrose (Oenothera laciniata, OL) were reported to have high contents of flavonoids and potent antioxidant activity. This study examined the antioxidant and antiobesity activities of OL sprouts to determine if they could be a natural health-beneficial resource preventing obesity and oxidative stress. Methods: OL sprouts were extracted with 50% ethanol, evaporated, and lyophilized (OLE). The in vitro antioxidant activity of OLE was examined using four different tests. The antiobesity activity and in vivo antioxidant activity from OLE consumption were examined using high fat diet-induced obese (DIO) C57BL/6 mice. Results: The IC₅₀ for the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activities of OLE were 26.2 ㎍/mL and 327.6 ㎍/mL, respectively. OLE exhibited the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) activity of 56.7 ㎍ ascorbic acid eq./mL at 100 ㎍/mL, and an increased glutathione level by 65.1% at 200 ㎍/mL compared to the control in the hUC-MSC stem cells. In an animal study, oral treatment with 50 mg or 100 mg of OLE/kg body weight for 14 weeks reduced the body weight gain, visceral fat content, fat cell size, blood leptin, and triglyceride levels, as well as the atherogenic index compared to the high fat diet control group (HFC) (p < 0.05). The blood malondialdehyde (MDA) level and the catalase and SOD-1 activities in adipose tissue were reduced significantly by the OLE treatment compared to HFC as well (p < 0.05). In epididymal adipose tissue, the OLE treatment reduced the mRNA expression of leptin, PPAR-γ and FAS significantly (p < 0.05) compared to HFC while it increased adiponectin expression (p < 0.05). Conclusion: OLE consumption has potent antioxidant and antiobesity activities via the suppression of oxidative stress and lipogenesis in DIO mice. Therefore, OLE could be a good candidate as a natural resource to develop functional food products that prevent obesity and oxidative stress.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.89-98
• /
• 2014

Purpose: Association of low intake of calcium (Ca) and inadequate vitamin D (VD) status with higher prevalence rates of obesity has been reported. This study was conducted in order to investigate the effects of different levels of whey Ca and VD intake on lipid metabolism in growing rats. Methods: A total of 56 five-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into seven groups and fed for five weeks. Ca groups were divided into three levels, low, normal, and high (0.25%, 0.5%, 1%). VD subgroups in the low and high Ca groups were divided into three levels, low, normal, and high (10 IU, 1,000 IU, and 5,000 IU). The effects of Ca and VD on each group were evaluated by two way ANOVA. Results: Significantly higher amounts of abdominal fat, visceral fat, and epididymal fat were observed in the Low-Ca groups than in the Normal-Ca and High-Ca groups. Serum leptin levels of Low-Ca groups were higher than those of Normal-Ca and High-Ca groups. The highest serum parathyroid hormone concentration was observed in the low Ca low VD group. The levels of serum 25(OH)D were significantly increased with increasing dietary VD levels. Significantly higher serum levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, and HDL-cholesterol were observed in the low Ca groups than in the normal Ca and high Ca groups. Conclusion: These results indicate that low calcium intake increased serum lipid level and body fat amount.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.35 no.9
• /
• pp.1159-1165
• /
• 2006

Our preliminary study showed that genistein and daidzein improved blood glucose level in type 2 diabetic mice by enhancing the glucose and lipid metabolism. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether genistein and daidzein are associated with alterations in antioxidant defense mechanism of type 2 diabetic mice. Male C57BL/KsJ-db/db (db/db) mice and age-matched non-diabetic littermates (db/+) were used in this study. The db/db mice were divided into control, genistein (0.02%, w/w) and daidzein (0.02%, w/w) groups. The relative weights of liver, epididymal adipose tissue and perirenal adipose tissue were significantly higher in the db/db group than in the db/+ group, whereas heart weight was lower. The genistein and daidzein supplement did not affect the organ weights in db/db mice. The blood glucose level was positively correlated with superoxide dismutase (SOD, r=0.380, p<0.05) and catalase (CAT, r=0.345, p<0.05) activities and negatively correlated with glutathione peroxidase (GSH Px, r= 0.404, p<0.05) activity in erythrocyte. Therefore, the erythrocyte SOD and CAT activities were significantly elevated in the db/db group compared to the db/+ group and the GSH-Px activity was lowered. However, the supplementation of genistein and daidzein reversed erythrocyte CAT and GSH-Px activities in type 2 diabetic mice. In this current study, the SOD activities in liver, kidney and heart were significantly not different between the groups. The CAT and GSH-Px activities in liver and GSH-Px activity in kidney were significantly higher in the db/db group than in the db/+ group, while the CAT activity in kidney, CAT and GSH-Px activities in heart were lowered. The supplementation of genistein and daidzein significantly attenuated the changes of CAT and/or GSH-Px activities in liver and heart. The supplementation of genistein and daidzein elevated GSH levels in kidney and heart compared to the db/db control group. The lipid peroxide levels in liver, kidney and heart were significantly lowered in the genistein and daidzein supplemented groups compared to the db/db control group. These results suggest that genistein and daidzein might be beneficial for the prevention of type 2 diabetic complication via suppressing changes of antioxidant enzymes activities with simultaneous reduction of lipid peroxidation.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.354-361
• /
• 2019

The red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the most important vegetables in traditional Korean food, containing vitamins A, C, and E, polyphenol, and flavonoids. In addition, red peppers have high anti-oxidant ability and are known to be effective in preventing obesity, diabetes, hypertension, digestive disorders, stress, and aging. In this study, we investigated the effects against obesity and diabetes of both fermented and non-fermented red pepper. C57BL/6N mice with induced obesity from an eight-week 45% high fat diet (HFD) were then fed either an HFD or diets containing 2.5% non-fermented red pepper marc (NRM), 1.25% fermented red pepper marc (FRM), or 2.5% FRM for a further eight weeks. An oral glucose tolerance test was performed seven weeks after dietary intake, and body weight, liver, epididymal fat weight, serum insulin level, and HOMA-IR were measured and a lipid content test performed at eight weeks. The results show that the 2.5% FRM diet reduced body and tissue weight, lipid content, serum insulin levels, and HOMA-IR compared to the 2.5% NRM and HFD diets. These results suggest that fermented red pepper is effective against obesity and diabetes. We will use this information as the basic data for the development of health food materials using red pepper.