Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), found in ground beef extract, has been reported to show many beneficial health effects including anticancer activity and anti-obesity behaviour. The mechanism for the anti-obesity activity of CLA and its isomers is thought to involve an increase in energy expenditure, reduced adipocyte number and size, and an increase in lipolysis. However, the full mechanism and the influence of CLA isomers is not fully understood.
In this work, Yeonhwa Park and co-workers from the US investigated the effect of CLA on voluntary physical activity in an animal model using young N2KO mice. It was found that CLA improves voluntary physical activity in the animal model and reduced body fat by reducing serum triglyceride levels and down-regulatin mRNA expressions of C/EBPaand leptin. These findings suggest that dietary CLA could prevent inactivity-induced obesity, which may in turn prevent weight gain. The work could provide a foundation for future clinical trials using CLA for obesity prevention.
Look out for the story in Chemistry World!
Read the full article for free until the 12th October:
Preventive effects of conjugated linoleic acid on obesity by improved physical activity in nescient basic helix-loop-helix 2 knockout mice during growth period, Jun Ho Kim, Darla Gilliard, Deborah J. Good and Yeonhwa Park, Food Funct., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2fo30103b
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