Abstract
The traditional medicine Dai-Ken-Chu-To (DK) is used to treat gastrointestinal diseases. The drug may have an anti-obesity effect through its gastrointestinal activities. In this study, we examined the effects of DK on obesity and glucose intolerance induced by long-term feeding on a HF diet. Male C57BL/6N mice (5 weeks old) consumed a HF diet, a HF diet plus 1% or 3% DK extract, or a HF diet plus 0.5 or 1% zanthoxylum fruit extract for 20 weeks. The DK extract (500 or 1000 mg/kg) and the lipase inhibitor orlistat (50 mg/kg) reduced elevated levels of triacylglycerol (TG) in plasma in the oral lipid tolerance test. The HF diet plus 3% DK extract inhibited the increase in body weight at weeks 8, 9, 11 and 12, compared with the HF diet alone. The DK extract (1% and 3%), and the zanthoxylum fruit extract (1%) lowered the elevated plasma glucose levels in mice fed the HF diet. DK extract or zanthoxylum fruit extract might be useful for preventing obesity and/or glucose intolerance induced by a HF diet.
Highlights
The traditional medicine Dai-Ken-Chu-To (Da-Jiang-ZhongTang in Chinese), a mix of four natural components, is used to treat abdominal discomfort including pain and distention in Japan
We examined the effects of a modified DK extract on obesity and glucose intolerance induced in mice by long-term feeding of a high-fat diet
Mean food consumption per day per mouse for 20 weeks did not differ among mice fed the standard diet (AIN-93M), the HF-diet, the HF diet plus DK extract (1 or 5%), and the HF diet plus zanthoxylum fruit extract (0.5 or 1%), being 10.2 ± 0.11 kcal (AIN-93M diet), 12.7 ± 0.16 kcal (HF diet), 12.2 ± 0.16 kcal (HF plus 1% DK extract), 11.3 ± 0.11 kcal (HF plus 3% DK extract), 12.7 ± 0.70 kcal (HF plus 0.5% zanthoxylum fruit extract) and 12.3 ± 0.15 kcal (HF plus 1% zanthoxylum fruit extract), respectively
Summary
The traditional medicine Dai-Ken-Chu-To (Da-Jiang-ZhongTang in Chinese), a mix of four natural components, is used to treat abdominal discomfort including pain and distention in Japan. DaiKen-Chu-To has been found to improve gastrointestinal motility, postoperative adhesion, and paralytic ileus after abdominal surgery in basic medicinal and clinical studies [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. It reportedly increases gastrointestinal motility by raising levels of calcitonin generelated peptide as well as acetylcholine and motilin [9,10,11,12]. We examined the effects of a modified DK extract (without maltose powder) on obesity and glucose intolerance induced in mice by long-term feeding of a high-fat diet
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