Yacon roots improve insulin sensitivity by inhibiting fat store and adjusting adipokine profile

HONORÉ S.M.; ALEMAN MN; GENTA S.B.; SANCHEZ S.S.

Mendoza, Argentina

Congreso; XLVIII Annual Meeting of the Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SAIB); 2012

Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SAIB)

The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of multiple metabolic disease based on obesity and insulin resitence. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of Smallanthus sonchifolius roots (Yacón), rich in fructooligosacharides (FOS), on weight loss, metabolic syndrome-related biochemical parameters, and the regulation of key genes involved in lipid metabolism of hepatic and adipose tissues in rats rendered metabolic syndrome by a high-fructose diet (HFD). Adult male Wistar rats were maintained on a rat standard chow and then animals were randomly separated into a control group (water ad libitum) and a fructose-supplemented group (fructose 10% w/v, ad libitum) After 12 weeks rats on a HFD, were randomly assigned according to the treatment: HFD or a HFD+Yacón fluor (340mgFOS/kg) twice a day. Yacon supplementation significantly lowered food intake, body weight, visceral fat-pad weights, blood and hepatic lipid, glucose and insulin levels of rats administered HFD. Feeding yacon reversed the high-fructose diet-induced downregulation of PPARalpha and reduced the HMGCoAS, FAS and GPAT mRNA expression. After 2 months of treatment, rats with metabolic syndrome showed decrease in their leptin levels, as well as leptin/adiponectin ratio and HOMA-IR. These results suggest that yacon fluor improves insulin sensitivity by inhibiting fat store and adjusting adipokine profile.