Loss of Body Weight and Fat and Improved Lipid Profiles in Obese Rats Fed Apple Pomace or Apple Juice Concentrate

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of apple pomace (AP) and apple juice concentrate (AC) supplementation on body weight and fat loss as well as lipid metabolism in obese rats fed a high-fat diet. Diet-induced obese rats were assigned to three groups (n=8 for each group): high fat diet (HFD) control, HFD containing 10% (w/w) AP, and HFD containing 10% (w/w) AC. There was also a normal diet group (n=8). After 5 weeks, body weight gain, adipose tissue weight, serum and hepatic lipid profiles, liver morphology, and adipocyte size were measured. Body weight gain, white adipose tissue (WAT) weight, serum total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, epididymal adipocyte size, and lesion scores were significantly lower and serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration and brown adipose tissue weights were significantly higher in the AP and AC groups compared with the HFD group. In addition, atherogenic indices in the AP and AC groups were significantly lower than in the HFD group. These results indicate that supplementing apple products such as AP and AC may help suppress body weight and WAT gain, as well as improve lipid profiles in diet-induced obese rats.