Bone mineral density (BMD) in rats in a model of metabolic syndrome (METS)

Background/Aims: Studies assessing association between MetS and bone status have yielded inconsistent results; subjects with MetS had lower bone mineral density (BMD) but also lower fracture risk. We investigated BMD in an animal model of MetS and the effects of feeding a variety of different nutraceuticals. Methods: Male Wistar rats were fed on either a corn starch (CS) or highcarbohydrate, high-fat (HCHF) diet that produces physiological characteristics of MetS for 8 weeks followed by a further 8 weeks during which half of each group of rats received a dietary supplement of a nutraceutical (including cardamom, chia, inulin, lignan, linseed oil, caffeine, seaweeds; n ¼ 8-15 per group, n ¼ 194 control diet). BMD of rats was determined at 16 weeks using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (Norland XR36). Difference between groups was tested using two-way ANOVA; factors, diet and nutraceutical. Results:Rats fed the HCHF diet were significantly heavier than those fed on the CS diet (474.5 ± 4.3 vs. 401.7 ± 4.3 g, p < 0.0001 respectively) but control HCHF rats had significantly lower (p<0.0001)%BMD than CS-fed rats (0.035±0.0002 vs. 0.041 ± 0.0002% respectively). Caffeine (p < 0.001), lignan (p ¼ 0.005) and seaweeds (p < 0.001) significantly decreased BMD while feeding lignan (p ¼ 0.005) and linseed oil (p¼0.038) increased BMD relative to controls. Inulin (p< 0.001) and chokeberry (p ¼ 0.0015) significantly increased %BMD. Conclusions: An HCHF (MetS) diet increased overall BMD due to a larger body mass but decreased BMD relative to body weight; partly offset by supplementation with chia seeds, chokeberry or inulin

Anti-inflammatory Components from Functional Foods for Obesity

Obesity, defined as excessive fat accumulation that may impair health, has been described throughout human history, but it has now reached epidemic proportions with the WHO estimating that 39% of the world’s adults over 18 years of age were overweight or obese in 2016. Obesity is a chronic low-grade inflammatory state leading to organ damage with an increased risk of common diseases including cardiovascular and metabolic disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, osteo-arthritis and some cancers. This inflammatory state may be influenced by adipose tissue hypoxia and changes in the gut microbiota. There has been an increasing focus on functional foods and nutraceuticals as treatment options for obesity as drug treatments are limited in efficacy. This chapter summarises the importance of anthocyanin-containing fruits and vegetables, coffee and its components, tropical fruit and food waste as sources of phytochemicals for obesity treatment. We emphasise that preclinical studies can form the basis for clinical trials to determine the effectiveness of these treatments in humans

Proprietà strutturali e distribuzionali dei sintagmi interrogativi in alcuni dialetti italiani settentrionali

Increased consumption of dark-coloured fruits and vegetables may mitigate metabolic syndrome. This study has determined the changes in metabolic parameters, and in cardiovascular and liver structure and function, following chronic administration of either cyanidin 3-glucoside (CG) or Queen Garnet plum juice (QG) containing cyanidin glycosides to rats fed either a corn starch (C) or a high-carbohydrate, high-fat (H) diet. Eight to nine-week-old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into six groups for 16-week feeding with C, C with CG or QG, H or H with CG or QG. C or H were supplemented with CG or QG at a dose of ∼8 mg/kg/day cyanidin glycosides from week 8 to 16. H rats developed signs of metabolic syndrome including visceral adiposity, impaired glucose tolerance, hypertension, cardiovascular remodelling, increased collagen depots in left ventricle, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, increased plasma liver enzymes and increased inflammatory cell infiltration in the heart and liver. Both CG and QG reversed these cardiovascular, liver and metabolic signs. However, no intact anthocyanins or common methylated/conjugated metabolites could be detected in the plasma samples and plasma hippuric acid concentrations were unchanged. Our results suggest CG is the most likely mediator of the responses to QG but that further investigation of the pharmacokinetics of oral CG in rats is required