Brown Seaweed as an Intervention for Diet-Induced Obesity in Male Wistar Rats.

The therapeutic potential of grown in Australian tropical waters was tested in a rat model of metabolic syndrome. Forty-eight male Wistar rats were divided into four groups of 12 rats and each group was fed a different diet for 16 weeks: corn starch diet (C); high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet (H) containing fructose, sucrose, saturated and fats; and C or H diets with 5% mixed into the food from weeks 9 to 16 (CS and HS). Obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, impaired glucose tolerance, fatty liver and left ventricular fibrosis developed in H rats. In HS rats, decreased body weight (H, 547 ± 14; HS, 490 ± 16 g), fat mass (H, 248 ± 27; HS, 193 ± 19 g), abdominal fat deposition and liver fat vacuole size but did not reverse cardiovascular and liver effects. H rats showed marked changes in gut microbiota compared to C rats, while supplementation increased gut microbiota belonging to the family . This selective increase in gut microbiota likely complements the prebiotic actions of the alginates. Thus, may be a useful dietary additive to decrease abdominal and liver fat deposition.