Saturday, July 23, 2011
Krill Oil Reduces Ill Effects of High-Fat Diet
...The study results showed that feeding a high-fat diet to mice compared to animals given a low-fat diet led to an elevation of endocannabinoids (EC), lipid messengers that can activate specific receptors, thereby influencing not only enzyme activities, but also appetite, energy balance, mood, memory, and pain perception. In doing so, the EC system contributes to visceral fat accumulation. Superba krill oil was able to counteract the high fat diet-induced changes in EC levels after eight weeks of treatment. In addition to reducing EC levels in several different tissues, administration of krill oil also exerted lowering effects on triglyceride, cholesterol and a marker of inflammation...
For A Sugary Way Out Of Obesity!
Sugarcane extract could be a pleasant tool in the fight against obesity, Australian researchers believe. The results of the La Trobe University experiments on mice and reported in Nutrition Horizon, may provide a new approach for weight management in humans.
The study was carried out by Dr Richard Weisinger with La Trobe colleagues Dr Lauren Stahl, Dr Denovan Begg, Dr Mark Jois and collaborators Dr Ankur Desai and Dr Jason Smythe from Horizon Science, a Melbourne based food biotechnology firm. Their work was discussed at a meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior held in Clearwater, Florida, USA.
Molasses usually end up as a waste-product of sugar refining. However, they are rich in polyphenols, says Dr Weisinger, chemicals found in plants known for their antioxidant properties.
Researchers supplemented the high-fat diet of a group of laboratory mice with molasses for 12 weeks. They found that these mice had lower body weight, reduced body fat and decreased blood levels of leptin – a hormone involved in energy regulation, appetite and metabolism – than the control group.
Further analyses, says Dr Weisinger, revealed that molasses supplements led to increased energy excretion, i.e, more calories were lost in faeces. They also found increased gene expression for several liver and fat cell biomarkers of energy metabolism...
The study was carried out by Dr Richard Weisinger with La Trobe colleagues Dr Lauren Stahl, Dr Denovan Begg, Dr Mark Jois and collaborators Dr Ankur Desai and Dr Jason Smythe from Horizon Science, a Melbourne based food biotechnology firm. Their work was discussed at a meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior held in Clearwater, Florida, USA.
Molasses usually end up as a waste-product of sugar refining. However, they are rich in polyphenols, says Dr Weisinger, chemicals found in plants known for their antioxidant properties.
Researchers supplemented the high-fat diet of a group of laboratory mice with molasses for 12 weeks. They found that these mice had lower body weight, reduced body fat and decreased blood levels of leptin – a hormone involved in energy regulation, appetite and metabolism – than the control group.
Further analyses, says Dr Weisinger, revealed that molasses supplements led to increased energy excretion, i.e, more calories were lost in faeces. They also found increased gene expression for several liver and fat cell biomarkers of energy metabolism...
Monday, July 04, 2011
Leucine Reverses Ill Effects of High-Fat Diet
Doubling the amount of the branched chained amino acid (BCAA) leucine in a high-fat diet reversed many of negative metabolic effects associated with metabolic syndrome and caused an improvement in glucose tolerance and insulin signaling in a recent mouse study (PLoS ONE. May 23;6(6): e21187. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0021187). This study demonstrates how a single, simple dietary factor—leucine—can modify insulin resistance by acting on multiple tissues and at multiple levels of metabolism.
American researchers placed mice on either a normal or high-fat diet; both groups had twice the normal amount of dietary leucine added to their drinking water. After eight weeks on a high-fat diet, mice developed obesity, fatty liver, inflammatory changes in adipose tissue and insulin resistance, as well as alterations in metabolomic profile of amino acid metabolites, glucose and cholesterol metabolites, and fatty acids in liver, muscle, fat and serum.
However, doubling dietary leucine reversed many of the metabolite abnormalities and caused a marked improvement in glucose tolerance and insulin signaling even though the mice still gained weight. Increased dietary leucine was also associated with a decrease in liver disease and a decrease in inflammation in adipose tissue.
These data indicate that modest changes in a single environmental/nutrient factor can modify multiple metabolic and signaling pathways and modify high-fat diet induced metabolic syndrome by acting at a systemic level on multiple tissues. These data also suggest that increasing dietary leucine may provide an adjunct in the management of obesity-related insulin resistance.
Last year, leucine was found to not help muscle recovery, but this current study may give the miconutrient new life in metabolic syndrome products as opposed to sports nutrition products.
American researchers placed mice on either a normal or high-fat diet; both groups had twice the normal amount of dietary leucine added to their drinking water. After eight weeks on a high-fat diet, mice developed obesity, fatty liver, inflammatory changes in adipose tissue and insulin resistance, as well as alterations in metabolomic profile of amino acid metabolites, glucose and cholesterol metabolites, and fatty acids in liver, muscle, fat and serum.
However, doubling dietary leucine reversed many of the metabolite abnormalities and caused a marked improvement in glucose tolerance and insulin signaling even though the mice still gained weight. Increased dietary leucine was also associated with a decrease in liver disease and a decrease in inflammation in adipose tissue.
These data indicate that modest changes in a single environmental/nutrient factor can modify multiple metabolic and signaling pathways and modify high-fat diet induced metabolic syndrome by acting at a systemic level on multiple tissues. These data also suggest that increasing dietary leucine may provide an adjunct in the management of obesity-related insulin resistance.
Last year, leucine was found to not help muscle recovery, but this current study may give the miconutrient new life in metabolic syndrome products as opposed to sports nutrition products.
Obese dieters' brain chemistry works against their weight-loss efforts
If you've been trying to lose weight and suspect your body's working against you, you may be right, according to a University of Illinois study published in Obesity.
"When obese persons reduce their food intake too drastically, their bodies appear to resist their weight loss efforts. They may have to work harder and go slower in order to outsmart their brain chemistry," said Gregory G. Freund, a professor in the U of I College of Medicine and a member of U of I's Division of Nutritional Sciences.
He particularly cautions against beginning a diet with a fast or cleansing day, which appears to trigger significant alterations in the immune system that work against weight loss. "Take smaller steps to start your weight loss and keep it going," he said.
In the study, the scientist compared the effects of a short-term fast on two groups of mice. For 12 weeks, one group consumed a low-fat diet (10 percent fat); the other group was fed a high-fat (60 percent fat) and had become obese. The mice were then fasted for 24 hours. In that time, the leaner mice lost 18 percent of their body weight compared to 5 percent for the obese mice.
Freund said that there is an immune component to weight loss that has not been recognized. "Our data show that fasting induces an anti-inflammatory effect on a lean animal's neuroimmune system, and that effect is inhibited by a high-fat diet. Some of the brain-based chemical changes that occur in a lean animal simply don't occur in an obese animal," he said.
This breakdown occurs because obese animals resist downregulation of genes that activate the interleukin-1 (IL-1) system and associated anti-inflammatory cytokines, he said.
The scientist also studied differences in the behavior of the two groups of mice, monitoring how much they moved, administering tests to discern the animals' ability to learn and remember, and noting whether the mice exhibited signs of depression or anxiety.
The results suggest that beginning a diet with a fast or near-fast may alter brain chemistry in a way that adversely affects mood and motivation, undermining the person's weight-loss efforts.
"The obese mice simply didn't move as much as the other mice. Not only was there reduced locomotion generally, they didn't burrow in the way that mice normally do, and that's associated with depression and anxiety," he said...
"When obese persons reduce their food intake too drastically, their bodies appear to resist their weight loss efforts. They may have to work harder and go slower in order to outsmart their brain chemistry," said Gregory G. Freund, a professor in the U of I College of Medicine and a member of U of I's Division of Nutritional Sciences.
He particularly cautions against beginning a diet with a fast or cleansing day, which appears to trigger significant alterations in the immune system that work against weight loss. "Take smaller steps to start your weight loss and keep it going," he said.
In the study, the scientist compared the effects of a short-term fast on two groups of mice. For 12 weeks, one group consumed a low-fat diet (10 percent fat); the other group was fed a high-fat (60 percent fat) and had become obese. The mice were then fasted for 24 hours. In that time, the leaner mice lost 18 percent of their body weight compared to 5 percent for the obese mice.
Freund said that there is an immune component to weight loss that has not been recognized. "Our data show that fasting induces an anti-inflammatory effect on a lean animal's neuroimmune system, and that effect is inhibited by a high-fat diet. Some of the brain-based chemical changes that occur in a lean animal simply don't occur in an obese animal," he said.
This breakdown occurs because obese animals resist downregulation of genes that activate the interleukin-1 (IL-1) system and associated anti-inflammatory cytokines, he said.
The scientist also studied differences in the behavior of the two groups of mice, monitoring how much they moved, administering tests to discern the animals' ability to learn and remember, and noting whether the mice exhibited signs of depression or anxiety.
The results suggest that beginning a diet with a fast or near-fast may alter brain chemistry in a way that adversely affects mood and motivation, undermining the person's weight-loss efforts.
"The obese mice simply didn't move as much as the other mice. Not only was there reduced locomotion generally, they didn't burrow in the way that mice normally do, and that's associated with depression and anxiety," he said...
Today's Oklahoma research may lead to skinny pills in tomorrow's pharmacy
Research that produced skinny mice conceivably could lead to tomorrow's skinny pill for humans, an Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientist says.
Scientist Lorin Olson added a mutant gene to laboratory mice with the expectation the cells would grow out of control and develop cancer. They didn't. But far more exciting was another thing the immature cells failed to do, he said. They did not turn into fat cells.
“Could this be real? What's really going on here?” Olson said he asked himself.
He watched those skinny mice closely.
“I saw that the mice weren't gaining weight and developing fat. But it could have been a lot of things,” he said...
Scientist Lorin Olson added a mutant gene to laboratory mice with the expectation the cells would grow out of control and develop cancer. They didn't. But far more exciting was another thing the immature cells failed to do, he said. They did not turn into fat cells.
“Could this be real? What's really going on here?” Olson said he asked himself.
He watched those skinny mice closely.
“I saw that the mice weren't gaining weight and developing fat. But it could have been a lot of things,” he said...
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