Ginkgo biloba extract improves insulin signaling and attenuates inflammation in retroperitoneal adipose tissue depot of obese rats.

Due to the high incidence and severity of obesity and its related disorders, it is highly desirable to develop new strategies to treat or even to prevent its development. We have previously described that Ginkgo biloba extract (GbE) improved insulin resistance and reduced body weight gain of obese rats. In the present study we aimed to evaluate the effect of GbE on both inflammatory cascade and insulin signaling in retroperitoneal fat depot of diet-induced obese rats.

Green tea extract improves high fat diet-induced hypothalamic inflammation, without affecting the serotoninergic system.

To investigate possible mechanisms of green tea's anti-obesity and anti-diabetic effects in the hypothalamus, the central regulator of metabolism, of mice fed with high-fat diet (HFD), we analyzed proteins of the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) pathway and serotoninergic proteins involved in energy homeostasis. Thirty-day-old male Swiss mice were fed with HFD rich in saturated fat and green tea extract (GTE) for 8 weeks. After that, body weight and mass of fat depots were evaluated.

Nutritional and hormonal modulation of adiponectin and its receptors adipoR1 and adipoR2.

Adiponectin is the most abundant plasma protein synthesized mostly by adipose tissue and is an insulin-sensitive hormone, playing a central role in glucose and lipid metabolism. Adiponectin effects are mediated via two receptors, adipoR1 and adipoR2. Several hormones and diet components that are involved in insulin resistance may impair insulin sensitivity at least in part by decreasing adiponectin and adiponectin receptors.

[Foods and nutrients modulates the release of anorexigenic gastrointestinal hormones].

The short-term regulation of food intake controls what, how much and when we eat during one day or a single meal. When ingested, the nutrients produce satiety by means of mechanic stimulation and hormonal release. Many of these hormones also inhibit gastric empting and increase the gastric mechanoreceptor stimulation.

Long-term nutrition education reduces several risk factors for type 2 diabetes mellitus in Brazilians with impaired glucose tolerance.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a nutrition education program (NEP) on anthropometric, dietetic, and metabolic parameters in high-risk subjects for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Fifty-one participants, both sexes, were randomly assigned to either the control (58.8%) or the intervention (NEP) group.

Effect of food restriction on energy expenditure of monosodium glutamate-induced obese rats.

The neonatal administration of monosodium glutamate (MSG) to rodents leads to obesity in the adult animal, characterized by increased fat storages. Chronic food restriction is known to induce reduction in body energy expenditure, as an adaptive mechanism to save energy. Our purpose was to examine whether obesity can alter the mechanism of energy conservation in food-restricted animals.

Prolonged consumption of soy or fish-oil-enriched diets differentially affects the pattern of hypothalamic neuronal activation induced by refeeding in rats.

We used c-Fos immunoreactivity to estimate neuronal activation in hypothalamic feeding-regulatory areas of 3-month-old rats fed control or oil-enriched diets (soy or fish) since weaning. While no diet effect was observed in c-Fos immunoreactivity of 24-h fasted animals, the acute response to refeeding was modified by both hyperlipidic diets but with different patterns. Upon refeeding, control-diet rats had significantly increased c-Fos immunoreactivity only in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVH, 142%).

Does long-term coffee intake reduce type 2 diabetes mellitus risk?

This review reports the evidence for a relation between long-term coffee intake and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Numerous epidemiological studies have evaluated this association and, at this moment, at least fourteen out of eighteen cohort studies revealed a substantially lower risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus with frequent coffee intake. Moderate coffee intake (>/=4 cups of coffee/d of 150 mL or >/=400 mg of caffeine/d) has generally been associated with a decrease in the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus.