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Juçara (Euterpe edulis Mart.) supplementation reduces body weight gain and protects mice from metabolic complications induced by high-fat diet

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the effects of juçara pulp supplementation on energy homeostasis and metabolic complications in diet-induced obese mice.

Methods

Mice received a control (C) or a high-fat diet (H) for 16 weeks and for half the diet was supplemented with 0.5% freeze-dried juçara powder (CJ and HJ groups, respectively). Food intake, body weight, energy expenditure, glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, liver steatosis, and uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) expression in brown adipocytes were analyzed.

Results

Juçara pulp supplementation reduced body weight gain in HJ compared to H group but increased body weight in CJ compared to C group. Energy intake was higher in the CJ group than in C, H, and HJ, but similar between H and HJ groups. Despite similar energy intake, juçara pulp supplementation increased energy expenditure in HJ compared to H group. However, UCP-1 expression was not affected by juçara. Also, H mice exhibited a severe diet-induced glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, all of which were significantly improved in HJ mice. In addition, H group had higher fat content in hepatocytes than HJ, whereas no difference was observed between C and CJ.

Conclusions

Juçara pulp has a great potential to reduce the metabolic complications associated with obesity.

Graphical abstract

Juçara pulp supplementation in high-fat diet fed mice improved insulin resistance and glucose intolerance besides protecting mice from liver steatosis and obesity.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

AIN:

American Institute of Nutrition

ANOVA:

analysis of variance

AUC:

area under the curve

BSA:

bovine serum albumin

C:

control diet group

CAT:

catalase

CEDEME:

Center for Development of Animal Models for Medicine and Biology

CEUA:

Institutional Ethics Committee on Animal Use

CJ:

control diet group supplemented with juçara 0.5% freeze-dried powder

H:

high-fat diet group

HE:

hematoxylin and eosin

HJ:

high-fat diet group supplemented with juçara 0.5% freeze-dried powder

IL-6:

interleukin 6

IPEMA:

Institute of Permaculture and Ecovillages of the Atlantic

ipGTT:

intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test

ipITT:

intraperitoneal insulin tolerance test

MCP-1:

monocyte chemoattractant protein-1

NAFLD:

non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

PUFAs:

polyunsaturated fatty acids

SE:

standard error of the mean

TNF-α:

tumor necrosis factor alpha

UCP-1:

uncoupling protein 1

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior-Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001 and by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, grant 2011/05932-3 and 2017/26075-8).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Alimentos, Nutrição e Saúde, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, SP, Brazil

    Marcela Barthichoto

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação Interdisciplinar em Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, SP, Brazil

    Thaís Ludmilla Moretto, Francine Pereira de Carvalho & Izabelle Dias Benfato

  3. Departamento de Biociências, Instituto de Saúde e Sociedade, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, SP, Brazil

    Veridiana Vera de Rosso, Daniel Araki Ribeiro, Debora Estadella, Luciana Le Sueur-Maluf, Luciana Pellegrini Pisani & Camila Aparecida Machado de Oliveira

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  1. Marcela Barthichoto
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  2. Thaís Ludmilla Moretto
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  3. Francine Pereira de Carvalho
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  10. Camila Aparecida Machado de Oliveira
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Contributions

MB, CAMO and LPP were responsible for the design of the study; MB and CAMO conducted the study; MB, CAMO, TLM, FPC, IDB, DAR, DE, LLM and VVR helped with experimental procedures, data analysis and discussion.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Camila Aparecida Machado de Oliveira.

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Ethics approval

All procedures were approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee on Animal Use (CEUA n.1750/11) from Federal University of Sao Paulo.

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Not applicable.

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All authors listed have contributed to the work, read, approved, and agreed to submit the manuscript.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Barthichoto, M., Moretto, T.L., de Carvalho, F.P. et al. Juçara (Euterpe edulis Mart.) supplementation reduces body weight gain and protects mice from metabolic complications induced by high-fat diet. Nutrire 46, 6 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41110-021-00135-7

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