Chronic low grade inflammation contributes toward obesity-related diseases. Existing literature suggests consumption of yogurt reduces inflammation in obese humans. However, little information exists concerning the tissue-specific mechanisms involved in this protection. Hasagewa and colleagues conducted a study to explore those mechanisms and report their results in the March 2023 issue of The Journal of Nutrition.
Mice (5 weeks old) were provided a 14% protein maintenance diet (control) or a high-fat diet (60% calories from fat) for 11 weeks. For 3 weeks after that the mice received a western diet (43% calories from carbohydrate and 42% from fat) or a western diet supplemented with 5.6% lyophilized yogurt powder. Metabolic endotoxemia and inflammatory markers were assessed in plasma and tissues, and cecal and fecal microbiota were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing.
HOMA-IR, plasma TNF-a, colonic IFN-g, plasma LPS binding protein and colonic Lbp expression were reduced with yogurt consumption. In addition, beta diversity among cecal bacteria was altered, as was the abundance of some microbes there. Yogurt supplementation had no effect on LBP, Lbp, and Cd14 levels in the liver or small intestine. These observations led the authors to conclude that yogurt consumption changes the gut microbiota, modulates colonic endotoxin detoxification, and improves glucose metabolism leading to a reduction in obesity-induced inflammation.
References
Hasegawa Y, Pei R, Raghuvanshi R, Liu Z, Bolling BW. Yogurt supplementation attenuates insulin resistance in obese mice by reducing metabolic endotoxemia and inflammation. Journal of Nutrition, Volume 153, Issue 3, March 2023, Pages 703-712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.01.021.
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