Neutralize the consequences
Scientists have found out how to minimize the harm of fatty foods
Swedish scientists have proved that it is possible to eliminate metabolic disorders caused by a high-fat diet by reducing the level of apolipoprotein C3 protein. The results of the study are published in the journal Science Advances (Valladolid-Acebes et al., Lowering apolipoprotein CIII protects against high-fat diet–induced metabolic derangements).
Regular consumption of fatty foods leads to an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and liver diseases.
Earlier, biologists from the Rolf Luft Research Center at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that elevated levels of the protein apolipoprotein C3 (apo C-3) are associated with cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. This key regulator of lipid metabolism accumulates in the insulin–secreting part of the pancreas - the islets of Langerhans, which leads to an increase in insulin resistance.
In a new study, scientists have proved in experiments on mice that by reducing the level of apo C-3, it is possible to significantly reduce or even completely eliminate the harmful effects of a high-fat diet.
The authors observed mice fed fatty foods from the age of 8 weeks and compared their performance with a control group of animals following a normal diet. At the same time, the experimental mice were divided into two more groups: in the first, the animals received a drug to reduce the levels of apo C-3 from the 10th week of a high-fat diet, and in the second – from the very beginning.
(The drug, an antisense oligonucleotide targeting apo C-3 mRNA, was administered intraperitoneally twice a week – VM.)
"After 10 weeks, all mice in the first group suffered from obesity, insulin resistance and liver steatosis," the words of the first author of the article, Ismael Valladolid–Acebes, associate professor of the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery at the Karolinska Institute, are quoted in a press release. "However, after treatment, with continued high-fat nutrition, glucose metabolism, weight and liver morphology were normalized."
In the group that was treated from the very beginning, the scientists did not notice any metabolic disorders at all, and the animals had the same body composition and metabolism as the control mice on a normal diet.
"Thus, we were able to demonstrate that reducing the level of apo C-3, despite the constant consumption of high–fat foods, not only protects against harmful metabolic disorders caused by fats, but also reverses them, contributing to an overall increase in insulin sensitivity," says study leader Lisa Huntti-Berggren (Lisa Juntti-Berggren), Professor of the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery at the Karolinska Institute.
APO C-3 protein is formed mainly in liver cells. According to the authors, the mechanisms underlying the effects of treatment that reduces its level include increased activity of the lipase enzyme and receptor-mediated lipid uptake by the liver. Fatty acids during a biochemical process in the liver, called the ketogenic pathway, are oxidized and converted into ketones, which are then used for energy production in brown adipose tissue. In this way, fats are consumed, and not accumulated.
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