Abstract
This study presents the alternating diet as a new strategy in combating obesity and metabolic diseases. Lean or obese mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for five days and switched to a regular diet for one (5 + 1), two (5 + 2), or five (5 + 5) days before switching back to HFD to start the second cycle, for a total of eight weeks (for prevention) or five weeks (for treatment) without limiting animals’ access to food. Our results showed that animals with 5 + 2 and 5 + 5 diet alternations significantly inhibited body weight and fat mass gain compared to animals fed an HFD continuously. The dietary switch changed the pattern of daily caloric intake and suppressed HFD-induced adipose macrophage infiltration and chronic inflammation, resulting in improved insulin sensitivity and alleviated fatty liver. Alternating diet inhibited HFD-induced hepatic Pparγ-mediated lipid accumulation and activated the expression of Pparα and its target genes. Alternating diet in the 5 + 5 schedule induced weight loss in obese mice and reversed the progression of metabolic disorders, including hepatic steatosis, glucose intolerance, and inflammation. The results provide direct evidence to support that alternating diet represents a new intervention in dealing with the prevalence of diet-induced obesity.
Highlights
Obesity is a “modern” disease caused by changes in lifestyle and dietary structure, genetics plays an important role
We cycled an high fat diet (HFD) with a regular diet without control of food consumption and evaluated the effectiveness of an alternating diet strategy in managing obesity and metabolic disorders
C57BL/6 mice were fed an HFD for five days intermitted by a regular diet for one, two, or five days
Summary
Obesity is a “modern” disease caused by changes in lifestyle and dietary structure, genetics plays an important role. Previous studies have reported that switching mice from obesogenic diets to regular diets, without limiting food intake, was capable of inducing weight loss and improving metabolic syndrome[11]. We cycled an HFD with a regular diet without control of food consumption and evaluated the effectiveness of an alternating diet strategy (high fat diet followed by regular diet) in managing obesity and metabolic disorders. (c) Body weight-time curve of mice on alternating diet with 5 days on HFD and 2 days on regular diet (5 + 2). (d) Body weight-time curve of animals on alternating diet with 5 days on HFD and 5 days on regular diet (5 + 5). The alternating diet reversed pre-existing obesity and metabolic disturbance, suggesting that an alternating diet without restricting food intake represents a promising strategy in dealing with obesity epidemics
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