Abstract
Obesity and obesity-associated diseases e.g. cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes are spread worldwide. Anthocyanins are supposed to have health-promoting properties, although convincing evidence is lacking. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of anthocyanins on several risk factors for obesity-associated diseases. Therefore, Fischer rats were fed anthocyanin-rich grape-bilberry juice or an anthocyanin-depleted control juice for 10 weeks. Intervention with anthocyanin-rich grape-bilberry juice reduced serum cholesterol and tended to decrease serum triglycerides. No effects were seen for serum non-esterified fatty acids, glucose, and insulin. Anthocyanin-rich grape-bilberry juice intervention reduced serum leptin and resistin, but showed no influence on serum adiponectin and secretion of adipokines from mesenteric adipose tissue. Furthermore, anthocyanin-rich grape-bilberry juice increased the proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids and decreased the amount of saturated fatty acids in plasma. These results indicate that anthocyanins possess a preventive potential for obesity-associated diseases.
Highlights
In Western countries with high prevalence of obesity and its associated diseases, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are severe public health problems
Anthocyanin intake in the anthocyanin-rich grapebilberry juice (ARJ) group was 15 mg anthocyanins/day, which corresponds to approximately 50 mg/kg body weight, whereas anthocyanin intake of the control group was less than 0.01 mg/day
Serum nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) levels were not influenced by the intervention with ARJ (Table 1)
Summary
In Western countries with high prevalence of obesity and its associated diseases, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are severe public health problems. As obesity is spreading worldwide, it is expected that the incidence of these diseases will increase over the coming years [1]. Several healthpromoting properties are discussed for anthocyanins, including anti-diabetic properties and beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system [2]. Two rodent and one human study could show glucose and/or insulin-lowering effects of anthocyanins [3,4,5]. Data on the effects of anthocyanins on cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which are risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, are rather inconsistent. In several human and animal studies cholesterol and/or triglyceride-lowering effects occurred, while other studies showed no influence [6,7,8,9] and in one animal study the anthocyanin intervention even increased serum triglycerides and cholesterol [10]
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