Seaweed Supplements Normalise Metabolic, Cardiovascular and Liver Responses in High-Carbohydrate, High-Fat Fed Rats

Marine Drugs

Senthil Arun Kumar³  Marie Magnusson¹  Leigh C. Ward²  Nicholas A. Paul¹  Lindsay Brown⁴ 

[1] MACRO—the Centre for Macroalgal Resources and Biotechnology, and College of Marine & Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia; E-Mails:;School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia; E-Mail:;Centre for Systems Biology, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Australia; E-Mail:;School of Health and Wellbeing, The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba 4350, Australia

关键词: obesity;    hypertension;    fatty liver;    tropical seaweeds;    soluble fibre;   

DOI  :  10.3390/md13020788

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Increased seaweed consumption may be linked to the lower incidence of metabolic syndrome in eastern Asia. This study investigated the responses to two tropical green seaweeds, Ulva ohnoi (UO) and Derbesia tenuissima (DT), in a rat model of human metabolic syndrome. Male Wistar rats (330–340 g) were fed either a corn starch-rich diet or a high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet with 25% fructose in drinking water, for 16 weeks. High-carbohydrate, high-fat diet-fed rats showed the signs of metabolic syndrome leading to abdominal obesity, cardiovascular remodelling and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Food was supplemented with 5% dried UO or DT for the final 8 weeks only. UO lowered total final body fat mass by 24%, systolic blood pressure by 29 mmHg, and improved glucose utilisation and insulin sensitivity. In contrast, DT did not change total body fat mass but decreased plasma triglycerides by 38% and total cholesterol by 17%. UO contained 18.1% soluble fibre as part of 40.9% total fibre, and increased magnesium, while DT contained 23.4% total fibre, essentially as insoluble fibre. UO was more effective in reducing metabolic syndrome than DT, possibly due to the increased intake of soluble fibre and magnesium.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.