Fish oil rich in n-3
polyunsaturated fatty acids is known to attenuate diet-induced
obesity and adipose tissue
inflammation in rodents. Here we aimed to investigate whether different
carbohydrate sources modulated the antiobesity effects of
fish oil. By feeding C57BL/6J mice isocaloric high-fat diets enriched with
fish oil for 6 wk, we show that increasing amounts of
sucrose in the diets dose-dependently increased energy efficiency and white adipose tissue (WAT) mass. Mice receiving
fructose had about 50% less WAT mass than mice fed a high
fish oil diet supplemented with either
glucose or
sucrose, indicating that the
glucose moiety of
sucrose was responsible for the
obesity-promoting effect of
sucrose. To investigate whether the obesogenic effect of
sucrose and
glucose was related to stimulation of insulin secretion, we combined
fish oil with high and low glycemic index (GI) starches. Mice receiving the
fish oil diet containing the low-GI
starch had significantly less WAT than mice fed high-GI
starch. Moreover, inhibition of insulin secretion by administration of
nifedipine significantly reduced WAT mass in mice fed a high-
fish oil diet in combination with
sucrose. Our data show that the macronutrient composition of the diet modulates the effects of
fish oil.
Fish oil combined with
sucrose,
glucose, or high-GI
starch promotes
obesity, and the reported anti-inflammatory actions of
fish oil are abrogated. In conclusion, our data indicate that
glycemic control of insulin secretion modulates metabolic effects of
fish oil by demonstrating that high-GI
carbohydrates attenuate the antiobesity effects of
fish oil.