Background: Cocoa, coffee, green tea and garcinia contain large amounts of polyphenols. Polyphenols are well-known phytochemicals and found in plants, and have modulated physiological and molecular pathways that are involved in energy metabolism, adiposity, and obesity.
Methods: To evaluate the obesity-lowering effect of a combined extract (comprising cocoa, coffee, green tea and garcinia; CCGG) in high-energy diet (HED)-induced obese rats. Male Sprague Dawley rats (8 weeks old) were randomly divided into four groups (n = 12 per group): normal diet with vehicle treatment (Control), and HED to receive vehicle or CCGG by oral gavage at 129, 258, or 517 mg/kg/day for 4 weeks, designated the HED, 0.5X, 1X and 1X groups, respectively.
Results: HED induced macrovesicular fat in the liver and the formation of adipose tissues, and significantly increased the levels of serum free fatty acids (FFA), triacylglycerol (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and LDL-C/HDL-C, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and ketone bodies in serum, and hepatic TG and TC levels, and decreased the levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in serum and lipase activity in fat tissues. Treatment with CCGG could significantly decrease the levels of FFA, TG, TC, LDL-C, and LDL-C/HDL-C, AST, ALT, and ketone bodies in serum, and hepatic TG and TC contents, and increase the levels of HDL-C in serum and lipase activity in fat tissues compared to the HED group. Liver histopathology also showed that CCGG could significantly reduce the incidence of liver lesions.
Conclusion: These results suggested that CCGG stimulated lipid metabolism in HED-induced obese rats, which is attributable to fat mobilization from adipose tissue.
Keywords: Cholesterol; Fatty Liver; High energy diet; LDL-C; Lipase; Polyphenols.