Author(s)

Lauren Mounts¹, Rajitha Sunkara¹, Louis Shackelford¹, Simon Ogutu², Lloyd T. Walker², Martha Verghese^1*

¹Nutritional Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Food & Animal Sciences, Alabama A & M University, Normal, AL, USA.
²Food Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Food & Animal Sciences, Alabama A & M University, Normal, AL, USA.

Obesity has reached pandemic levels, being a major concern of health. Overweight and obesity are the precursors for metabolic disturbances in the body. Probiotics and prebiotics administrations have shown to reduce the characteristics of obesity-induced metabolic syndrome in animals. The present study examined the effects of dietary supplementation of soybean meal and Bifidobacterium longum (BB536) singly and in combination on obesity-related traits in obese Zucker rats. Control group rats were fed with AIN93-M diet and treatment groups were fed with soybean meal (5 % or 10%) and Bifidobacterium longum (0.1%) in single and combinations for 100 days. Weight gain, feed intake, and % of fat in liver were recorded. Serum biochemical parameters such as cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin and glucose were analyzed. Activities of liver enzymatic markers (alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma glutamyl-transferase (GGT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP)) were determined. Dietary supplementation of soymeal at 10% with B. longum reduced the weight gain by 30% and liver fat content by 35%. Feeding Bifidobacterium longum alone did not have any effect in analyzing serum biochemical parameters and activity of liver enzymatic markers. Serum glucose and insulin levels in rats were lowered by 18% - 24% and 22% - 25% respectively when fed with administration of combinational feeding of soymeal at 5% and 10% with Bifidobacterium longum. Hepatic enzyme activity was reduced by 1.3 fold with the combinational diet at higher concentration (soy 10%). The present study provides evidence that supplementation with soymeal with probiotic, B. longum attenuates the metabolic disorders induced by obesity in obese Zucker rats.

Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, Soy, Bifidobacterium longum

Mounts, L. , Sunkara, R. , Shackelford, L. , Ogutu, S. , T. Walker, L. and Verghese, M. (2015) Feeding Soy with Probiotic Attenuates Obesity-Related Metabolic Syndrome Traits in Obese Zucker Rats. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 6, 780-789. doi: 10.4236/fns.2015.69081.