Persimmons are shown to contain high levels of phenolics. The present study was designed to investigate if a sweet persimmon wine (SPW) would affect the development of alcoholic fatty liver in rats. Initially, male Sprague-Dawley rats were housed singly in stainless steel wire-bottomed cages in a room of controlled temperature and lighting. The rats had free access to a nutritionally adequate AIN-93G diet and deionized water. After the acclimatization period, rats were weight-matched and assigned to the following three groups: two groups were fed 6.7% ethanol or the caloric equivalent of maltose-dextrin in a Lieber-DeCarli diet and the other group was fed the isocaloric Lieber-DeCarli diet containing SPW at the same ethanol level. All three groups were fed their respective diets for 6 weeks. Serum transaminase, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were measured. Liver lipids and histology were assessed at 6 weeks. The total phenolic content and the antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities of SPW were determined. SPW significantly increased antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities. As markers of liver injury, serum alanine and aspartate transminases were markedly lowered by SPW at 6 weeks. SPW significantly reduced the serum levels of serum cholesterol and triglyceride compared to ethanol treatment. SPW delayed the development of an alcoholic fatty liver by reversing fat accumulation in the liver, as evidenced in histological observations. Taken together, SPW seems to protect the liver from becoming fatty by alleviating fatty liver symptoms and lowering hepatic and serum lipid levels. Such a protective effect of SPW appears to be in part due to its phenolics.

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