This study aimed to validate the anti-obesity effect of okara, a soyfood byproduct, in diet induced obese mice. Thirty two C57BL/6J male 4 week old mice were divided into four dietary groups (=8) fed either normal diet (ND), high fat diet (HD), HD with 10% okara (OL), or HD with 20% okara (OH) for 12 weeks. Body weight gain and epididymal fat weight of OL and OH group were significantly lower than HD group. Similarly, the serum and hepatic lipid profiles in OH were significantly lower than HD group. The fecal triacylglycerol and TC levels in OL and OH increased compared to HD. Also, the expression of PPAR-α was higher in OH than HD group; PPAR-γ and FAS levels were lower in OH compared to HD. In this study, okara consumption appears to protect mice against diet induced obesity (DIO) and metabolic dysregulation related to obesity.

BackgroundMetabolic syndrome is a set of disorders that increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The primary target of treatment of patients with metabolic syndrome is therapeutic lifestyle change. Numerous preclinical study have reported positive effects of chungkookjang in in vivo models of diabetes and obesity, but there is a paucity of controlled clinical trials on variables of metabolic syndrome in obese subjects. Thus, the objective of this trial is to examine the effect of chungkookjang compared to placebo on variables of metabolic syndrome in overweight/obese subjects.MethodsThis double-blind randomized controlled crossover trial will be conducted on 120 overweight/obese subjects; aged 19–29 years. Subjects will be recruited from the Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea. Enrolled subjects will be randomly assigned to two groups of equal number; one group received 35 g of chungkookjang (n = 60) and the other group received placebo (n = 60) on a regular daily basis for 12 weeks. After a 12-week washout period, the groups will be crossed over. In addition to anthropometric measures and blood pressure, glucose parameter, lipid profile, adipocytokine, and carnitine assay will be determined at baseline and 12 week. Also, safety will be assessing by measuring total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, alanine transaminase, aspartate aminotransferase, total protein, albumin, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and creatine kinase at baseline and 12 weeks. 24-hour dietary recalls were collected at the baseline and at the end of the trial.DiscussionThis trial will evaluate the effects of chungkookjang on variables of metabolic syndrome in overweight/obese subjects. The results of this study may contribute to the reduction of risk factor for metabolic syndrome caused by obesity.Trial registrationClinical trials NCT01811511.

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to develop morning bread using powdered citrus peels and to examine the effect of its several biological activities for 12 weeks in overweight adults (BMI 23) living in dormitories of Chonbuk National University. Methods: Control bread was prepared using the same formula except for replacing the wheat flour with 3% citrus peel powder. Subjects were classified according to two groups: Intake group of 3% citrus peel powder fortified morning bread (n = 30) and general morning bread (n = 30). Results: The results of our study showed no significant effects of citrus peel powdered morning bread on anthropometric indices and biochemical characteristics among overweight adults. Despite the slight reduction in total-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, GOT, and GPT (p < 0.05), no significant differences in changes of these values were observed between the two groups. Conclusion: The short duration of our intervention might have resulted in the lack of any significant effect. Therefore, conduct of further studies with longer duration is warranted in order that the results from this study can be utilized as a basis for the development of food products with citrus peel powder.

In this study, we investigated the effect of Korean trational Chungkookjang compared to placebo on variables of metabolic syndrome in overweight/obese subjects. This double‐blind randomized controlled crossover trial was conducted on 120 overweight/obese subjects; aged 19‐29 years. Each group received either 35 g of Chungkookjang (CK; n = 60) or placebo (PC; n = 60) on a regular daily basis for 12 weeks. After 12‐weeks period, the groups was crossed over. The anthropometric measures, blood pressure, glucose parameter, lipid profile, adipocytokine, and carnitine assay was determined at baseline and 12 week. Also, safety was assessded by measuring total bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, alanine transaminase, aspartate aminotransferase, total protein, albumin, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and creatine kinase at baseline and 12 weeks. 24‐hour dietary recalls were collected at the baseline and at the end of the trial. Bodyweight, bodyweight gain, serum insulin , leptin level and energy intake were reduced in the CK group. These results suggested that the supplementation of Chungkookjang may contribute to the reduction of risk factor for metabolic syndrome caused by obesity. Grant Funding Source: Korean Institute of Planning & Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture Forestry & Fisheries

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is usually caused by foods such as wheat, egg, milk, and peanuts, leading to common health problems in early childhood with complications like urtication. The aim of this study was to evaluate ethanol extracts of rice and rice snacks concentrated until the ethanol was completely eliminated and hot-air dried. In vitro analyses were carried out using murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells. We measured cytotoxicity, nitric oxide (NO) production, and inflammatory cytokine level. The NO level of the cells exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was significantly reduced by rice and rice snack extracts. TNF-α level decreased in contrast to the LPS group, although a significant difference was not observed. On the other hand, IL-6 significantly decreased in both rice and rice snack extracts in a dose-dependent manner. The results of the present study suggest that rice and rice snack decreased NO and inflammatory cytokine levels. Therefore, rice could be useful as a raw material for relieving child atopic dermatitis caused by snacks made from wheat.