Effect of dietary oat β-glucan on high-fat diet induced obesity in HFA mice

Obesity has been suggested to be related to high intake of fat and low intake of fiber. Here we show the effect of oat β-glucan, a water soluble dietary fiber, in preventing high-fat diet induced obesity in human flora-associated (HFA) mice. HFA mice fed with high-fat diet for 8 weeks, significantly increased body weight, epididymal and subcutaneous adipose tissue weight compared with HFA mice in normal diet group (p<0.01). The high fat diet with 5% oat β-glucan significantly reduced body weight, epididymal and subcutaneous adipose tissue weight compared with high-fat diet fed HFA mice (p<0.01). HFA mice fed a high-fat diet, supplementation with 5% oat β-glucan for 8 weeks also decreased fasting glycemia, area under glucose curve (AUC) and triglyceride (TG) in serum when compared with high-fat diet group (p<0.05). However, no significant differences were observed between normal diet group and normal diet with 5% oat β-glucan diet group in body weight, epididymal and subcutaneous adipose tissue weight, AUC, fasting glycemia and TG. Dietary high-fat diet with 5% oat β-glucan also decreased lipid accumulation in hepatocytes and adipocyte size compared with mice from high-fat diet group. These results provide an important role of dietary oat β-glucan in preventing high-fat diet induced obesity, serum biochemical indicators associated with obesity, fatty liver and adipocyte size.