Effects of freeze‐dried cranberry powder on inflammatory biomarkers in db/db mice fed an atherogenic diet

Abstract

Obese diabetics have a greater risk for infectious diseases and exposure to endotoxin with a high fat diet. Cranberry products have been recognized to have anti‐oxidative and anti‐inflammatory properties. We employed obese diabetic animals and examined if fortification of atherogenic diet with freeze‐dried cranberry powder has beneficial effects on inflammatory biomarkers. Forty C57BL/KSJ‐db/db mice were equally divided into following 4 groups: normal diet (ND), atherogenic diet (AD), AD with 5% cranberry powder (AD‐C5), AD with 10% cranberry powder (AD‐C10) groups. After 6 weeks, mean serum tumor necrosis factor‐α was significantly higher in the AD group than the ND group, but it tended to be lower in the groups with cranberry powder compared to the AD group. Mean serum interleukin (IL)‐6 was twofold higher in the AD group than the ND group. However, in the AD‐C5 and AD‐C10 groups, respective mean values of IL‐6 were 26% (P>;0.05) and 67% (P<0.05) lower than the AD group. In the AD‐C10 group, levels of NF‐κB p65 protein in liver and kidney were lower than the group without cranberry powder. Histopathologically, hyperplasia and chronic granulomatous inflammation were not observed on H & E staining of kidney tissues of all groups. Our results demonstrated that cranberry powder consumption may beneficially modulate factors influencing inflammatory response of obese diabetes on high fat diet.