Energy restriction with high-fat diet enriched with coconut oil gives higher UCP1 and lower white fat in rats

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of overfeeding on a high fat diet, enriched in coconut oil, and the in¯uence of food restriction on the uncoupling protein (UCP1) expression and on body fat content. DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: In experiment I, female Wistar rats were fed ad libitum either a normal-fat diet (control group, C) or a high-fat diet (HF), enriched in coconut oil, for 7 weeks. In experiment II, HF rats after ®nishing experiment I were fed (for 3 weeks) either the normal-fat diet (group CAHF, Control After High Fat) or food restricted diets which provided 60% of the energy intake of group CAHF: a group fed a low-energy, normal-fat diet (LENF) and another fed a low-energy, high-fat diet (LEHF). MEASUREMENTS: Body and fatty depot weights. Food intake. Protein and UCP1 levels of interscapular brown adipose tissue. RESULTS: High-fat diet feeding promoted an increase in body fat content, body weight and UCP1 levels. Energy restriction induced similar body weight reduction in groups LENF and LEHF. However, some adipose depots were more strongly reduced in the rats fed the high-fat diet enriched in coconut oil (group LEHF) than in the rats fed the normal-fat diet (Group LENF). Speci®c UCP1 was 2.0 (group LENF) and 3.4 (group LEHF) times higher than in controls (group CAHF). CONCLUSION: The coconut-oil enriched diet is effective in stimulating UCP1 expression during ad libitum feeding and in preventing its down regulation during food restriction, and this goes hand in hand with a decrease of the white fat stores.

Time-Dependent Effects of a High-Energy-Yielding Diet on the Regulation of Specific White Adipose Tissue Genes

“…Rats eating such a diet, increased energy intake, body weight and adiposity, which is in good accordance with previous data (25). While it is difficult to assess the composition of the intake, this dietary model has been repeatedly used to induce weight gain in order to evaluate the influence of high-fat and high-energy intake on lipid deposition and to extrapolate the mechanisms to obese humans [Berraondo, 1997 #51;Berraondo, 1999 #52].…”

Influence of dietary saturated fat content on adiposity, macrophage behavior, inflammation, and metabolism: composition matters

“…both MCFAs, augments the rate of fat-mass loss compared with a diet composed of 12% olive oil that contains mostly MUFAs ( 36 ). Furthermore, there is substantial evidence demonstrating that small doses of MCFAs and HFDs rich in MCFAs can effectively reduce body weight, reduce fatmass gains, and minimize IR compared with HFDs rich in LCFAs (37)(38)(39)(40)(41). Additionally, MCFA-rich diets have been associated with an improved cholesterol profi le (42)(43)(44)(45) and reduced infl ammation ( 46,47 ) compared with other isocaloric diets.…”

Uncoupling protein 1 expression and high-fat diets

“…In their seminal article on the involvement of BAT in diet-induced thermogenesis, Rothwell and Stock (60) report increased interscapular BAT mass in the rat after feeding a cafeteria diet. While this effect of a cafeteria diet has, in principal, been reproduced (55), feeding a HFD leads to no or only marginal increases in BAT mass in rats (42,46,48,58,70,71,80) and mice (15,16,52,57,74). The protein content of BAT depots after feeding a HFD is less well studied, but at least in rats, it remains unchanged (8,21).…”

“…Twenty-three employed the mouse as an animal model (1, 3-5, 11, 15-17, 25, 32, 33, 40, 44, 49, 52, 53, 57, 63, 67, 74, 75, 78, 79), 16 employed the rat (6,23,35,38,42,43,48,58,70,71,73,77,80,82,84,85) and one used the Brandt's vole (86) and the house shrew (69), respectively. Whenever possible, we compared both the regulatory effect of a given parameter across different studies and within the same study.…”