Effects of Fermented Red Ginseng on High‐Fructose induced Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

The red ginseng (RG), a widely used traditional herbal medicine, was reported with anti‐inflammatory and anti‐oxidant activity. Aim in the present study was to investigate that the effects of fermented red ginseng (FRG) on high‐fructose (HF) diet induced metabolic disorders, and those effects were compared to RG and losartan. Treatment with FRG was significantly suppressed the increments of body weight, liver weight, epididymal fat weight and adipocyte size. Moreover, FRG significantly prevented the development of the metabolic disturbances such as hyperlipidemia and hypertension. Staining with Oil‐red‐o demonstrated marked increase of hepatic accumulation of triglycerides, and this increases was prevented by FRG. FRG ameliorated endothelial dysfunction by down‐regulation of endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) and adhesion molecules in the aorta. In addition, FRG induced markedly up‐regulation of IRS‐1 and Glut4 in the muscle. These results indicate that FRG ameliorates obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension and fatty liver in HF diet rats. Thus the pharmacological activity of RG was enhanced by fermentation on HF diet induced metabolic disorders. Taken together, fermentated red geinseng might be a beneficial therapeutic approach for metabolic syndrome.