Abstract
Fillets from marine fish species contain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the form of phospholipids (PLs). To investigate the importance of PL-bound n-3 PUFAs in mediating the anti-obesogenic effect of lean seafood, we compared the anti-obesogenic properties of fillets from cod with fillets from pangasius, a fresh water fish with a very low content of PL-bound n-3 PUFAs. We prepared high-fat/high-protein diets using chicken, cod and pangasius as the protein sources, and fed male C57BL/6J mice these diets for 12 weeks. Mice fed the diet containing cod gained less adipose tissue mass and had smaller white adipocytes than mice fed the chicken-containing diet, whereas mice fed the pangasius-containing diet were in between mice fed the chicken-containing diet and mice fed the cod-containing diet. Of note, mice fed the pangasius-containing diet exhibited reduced glucose tolerance compared to mice fed the cod-containing diet. Although the sum of marine n-3 PUFAs comprised less than 2% of the total fatty acids in the cod-containing diet, this was sufficient to significantly increase the levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acids (DHA) in mouse tissues and enhance production of n-3 PUFA-derived lipid mediators as compared with mice fed pangasius or chicken.
Highlights
Nutritional strategies to curb the escalating public health problems precipitated by obesity and related co-morbidities are highly warranted
We found weight gain in mice fed the HF/HP cod diet comparable to the weight gain observed in the LF diet fed reference mice
In line with human epidemiological studies [1,2,3] and earlier observations in mice [15,24,33,38,39,40], we here demonstrate that different protein sources exhibit profound differences in their ability to modulate obesity development
Summary
Nutritional strategies to curb the escalating public health problems precipitated by obesity and related co-morbidities are highly warranted. Human epidemiological studies suggest that diets with a high content of proteins from seafood may protect against the development of obesity [1,2,3]. This observation is supported by a number of rodent trials, where development of obesity and insulin resistance in seafood-fed animals is compared with animals fed meat from terrestrial sources [4]. The underlying mechanisms by which seafood intake is able to attenuate development of obesity and insulin resistance still remain to be fully elucidated. Meat from lean fish has Nutrients 2020, 12, 3038; doi:10.3390/nu12103038 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients
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