Dietary garlic prevents development of or alleviates diabetes and obesity in mice

Abstract

Mice on garlic supplemented diet (4% w/w) show accelerated RBC turnover and erythropoietic gene expression in the spleens. The resulting activation of heme oxygenase-1 produces extra CO, a pleiotropic metabolic regulator with anti-inflammatory functions. We hypothesize that the combination of increased energy consumption and the augmented CO production would be effective in preventing and/or alleviating type 2 diabetes and obesity (diabesity). We investigated the response of C57BL/6JNarl (B6) mice on garlic-supplemented and garlic-free diets to chronic CO exposure and compared the metabolic rate of garlic-fed B6 mice with controls. We then tested our hypothesis on four mouse models of diabesity, ranging from the severe genetic defects (ob/ob and db/db), to a milder QTL model of diabesity (NZOxNZW F1 males), and also the diet-induced obesity in B6 mice. Dietary garlic has proven effective in these four separate mouse models. The increased RBC turnover and related processes not only consume extra energy but also activate the HO-CO pathway to effectuate metabolic homeostasis. We will analyze the results and discuss possible mechanisms. We suggest that dietary garlic and/or its active ingredient(s) may play broader roles in the diabesity epidemic.