Sucrose-free hawthorn leathers formulated with fructooligosaccharides and xylooligosaccharides ameliorate high-fat diet induced inflammation, glucose and lipid metabolism in liver of mice

Abstract

High sucrose content in traditional hawthorn leathers limits the potential consumption, particularly for elders and diabetics. In this study, sucrose-free hawthorn leathers were formulated with 75% fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and 25% xylooligosaccharides (XOS) (HLF75), which exhibited comparable morphology and sensory properties to the traditional ones. Then, the anti-obesity activity of HLF75 was investigated using high-fat diet (HFD) fed C57BL/6J mice. Comparing with traditional hawthorn leathers, HLF75 supplementation in HFD significantly decreased the levels of blood glucose and serum lipid. The histomorphologies of liver and subcutaneous fat tissues were ameliorated by HLF75, as well as the down-regulated mRNA expression levels of IL-1β, Nos2 and Cox-2 in the liver. Moreover, the protein levels of MyD88 and NF-κB in the liver were suppressed by HLF75 treatment with decreased F4/80-positive macrophage number. However, the expression levels of PI3K, phosphorylated-AKT (Thr308), and phosphorylated-mTOR (Ser2448) proteins related to glucose metabolism were increased in the liver. Moreover, fat synthesis-related gene expression in HLF75-fed mice was suppressed while expressions of lipolysis genes were improved. Thus, HLF75 supplementation alleviated HFD-induced obesity through the alleviation of inflammation and restoration of the disturbed glucose and lipid metabolism. Functional oligosaccharides could be effective sucrose substitutes in hawthorn leathers and enable their potential utilization as functional foods.