Novel insights into the mechanisms underlying the anti-obesity effects of whey protein
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Date
2020-09-25
Authors
Boscaini, Serena
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Publisher
University College Cork
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Abstract
Obesity has become one of the major health problems worldwide, due to modern eating habits and an increase in sedentary lifestyles. Dietary strategies represent one among different therapeutic approaches employed to ameliorate, treat or prevent the obesity epidemic.
In this thesis, we focused on bovine whey protein, selected for their ability to influence energy balance, satiety hormones production and glucose tolerance. In particular, using male C57BL/6 mice fed with high-fat diet (HFD), we investigated the effect of whey protein isolate (WPI) and the whey protein component alpha-lactalbumin (LAB) on body weight, adipose tissue, intestinal-related functions and gut microbiota.
LAB given with HFD increased energy intake without affecting body weight. We observed that this energy mismatch was, in part, due to a change in the gene expression of nutrient transporters within the small intestine. This was accompanied by an increase in relative abundance of Parabacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Parvibacter and Lactobacillus in the gut.
We next investigated the effect of HFD supplemented with WPI given at two different ages and with different WPI intake durations. We observed that, only in younger mice, WPI decreased body weight and adiposity, which might be caused by an increase of adipose tissue catabolism. In addition, the gut microbiota of younger mice fed with HFD-WPI showed a different gut microbiota composition, including an increased relative abundance of Lactobacillus murinus.
In another experiment, we observed that, even during microbiota depletion, WPI still caused a decrease in HFD-induced body weight gain, adiposity and tissues inflammation. On the contrary, the beneficial effect of WPI on HFD-induced gut permeability disruption is abolished during gut microbiota depletion.
Overall, these results provide novel insight on the effects of whey protein on energy balance, adiposity, intestinal functionality and gut microbiota in the presence of HFD-induced obesity.
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Keywords
Obesity , Whey protein , High-fat diet , Gut microbiota , Adipose tissue , Metabolism , Gut physiology
Citation
Boscaini, S. 2020. Novel insights into the mechanisms underlying the anti-obesity effects of whey protein. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.