O44 Nutritional protection against obesity

Abstract

Obesity is a pressing public health problem caused by an interaction of several factors including genetic susceptibility and lifestyle changes (e.g. consumption of energy-dense, high fat/sugar foods and, possibly, increases in sedentary behaviour). Public health messages have had limited success in combating obesity. Energy dense foods often have high palatability which makes them attractive to consumers. Food additives which improve the metabolic health profile of these foods without changing their sensory qualities would provide an alternative public health intervention to combat obesity. We have investigated the effects of blueberry (BB) extract supplementation as an anti-obesogenic intervention. The supplementation completely prevented the effects of a high fat diet in a C57BL/6 mouse obesity model. Many physiological parameters including body weight, body composition, organ weight, serum lipids, adipose tissue inflammation, food intake, and glucose tolerance were all normalised by the supplementation. Liver lipid metabolism was significantly changed in response to BB supplementation leading to a significant reduction in liver MUFA storage. BB supplementation resulted in a significant increase in energy excretion. In addition, energy balance calculations suggest that energy expenditure is also significantly increased in response to BB supplementation. The results suggest that BB extracts can mitigate against the obesogenic effects of a high fat diet by reducing energy uptake and increasing energy expenditure. We are currently identifying the phytochemicals involved in the anti-obesogenic effect.