Fructans from Agave tequilana with a Lower Degree of Polymerization Prevent Weight Gain, Hyperglycemia and Liver Steatosis in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Mice.

A L Márquez-Aguirre,R M Camacho-Ruíz,N E Díaz-Martínez,M González-Ávila,Y K Gutiérrez-Mercado,F J Gálvez-Gastélum,D Ortuño-Sahagún,E Padilla-Camberos

doi:10.1007/s11130-016-0578-x

Abstract

Fructans from agave have received specific attention because of their highly branched fructan content. We have previously reported that the degree of polymerization (dp) influences their biological activity. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of unfractionated and fractionated fructans (higher and lower dps) from Agave tequilana in high-fat diet-induced (HFD) obese mice. Fructans with a lower dp (HFD+ScF) decreased weight gain by 30 %, body fat mass by 51 %, hyperglycemia by 25 % and liver steatosis by 40 %. Interestingly, unfractionated fructans (HFD+F) decreased glucose and triglycerides (TG), whereas fractionated fructans with a higher dp (HFD+LcF) decreased TG but not glucose; in contrast, HFD+ScF decreased glucose but not TG. Our findings suggest that both higher and lower dp agave fructans have complementary effects in metabolic disorders related to obesity. These findings may contribute to the development of improved food supplements with a specific ratio combination of fructans with different dps.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11130-016-0578-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Dietary fibers, such as inulin-type fructans, are selectively used and fermented by the gut, and several studies have demonstrated their health benefits [1,2,3,4]
Our studies indicate that the treatment of obese mice with fructans with a lower dp from A. tequilana did not increase the count of fecal Bifidobacteria; it reduced body weight
A limited number of studies have utilized branched fructans from agave. These studies were primarily designed to analyze the prebiotic effects from agave fructans in in vitro studies [17,18,19,20,21], animal models [13, 22, 23] and clinical trials [24,25,26,27], whereas other studies have investigated the effects on food intake, body weight gain and hyperglycemia [11, 14, 22, 28]

Summary

Introduction

Dietary fibers, such as inulin-type fructans, are selectively used and fermented by the gut, and several studies have demonstrated their health benefits [1,2,3,4] These nondigestible carbohydrates have been demonstrated to reduce weight gain and related metabolic disorders via specific actions on food intake [5,6,7]. Most of these findings have been obtained following supplementation with inulin-type fructans from Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) and chicory (Cichorium intybus) [8]. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of unfractionated and fractionated fructans (higher and lower dp) from Agave tequilana in high-fat diet-induced obese mice

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