Antiobesity and lipid-lowering effects of yacon roots in high fat diet-induced obese rats.

GRANDE MV; GOMEZ ROJAS J; SÁNCHEZ SS; HONORÉ SM

Mar del Plata, Provincia de Buenos Aires

Congreso; LI Annual Meeting of the Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SAIB); 2015

Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SAIB)

Obesity is a global public health concern and the quest continues to explore natural product-based novel therapeutics. The present study investigated the anti-obesity properties of S. sonchifollius (yacon) roots and its molecular mechanism in rats under high-fat diet (HFD). After 12w on a HDF male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: SD, HFD and HFD+Y (680mg yacon flour/kg bw). Administration yacon flour for 8 w significantly reduced body weight, food intake, feed efficiency and body mass index in the HFD+Y rats. Lipid profile, serum glucose and insulin were similar to SD animals. The atherogenic index decreases compared with the HFD group. Yacon treatment significantly improves pathological changes in liver, intestine and adipose tissue and decreased the relative weights of epididymal, perirenal and visceral white adipose tissues. Serum levels of leptin andadiponectin were normalized in HFD+Y rats improving insulin sensitivity. Feeding with yacon reversed the HFDinduced down-regulation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor g (PPARg), adipocyte protein 2 (aP2)genes and elevated AMPK phosphorylation in visceral adipose tissue. These findings suggest that yacon roots administration suppresses high-caloric-diet-induced obesity and it can be developed as a potential candidate for the treatment of obesity and associated complications.