Anthocyanins have a positive effect on resistant
obesity; however they cannot usually be absorbed directly but, instead, are metabolized by gut microbiota. This study will examine the effects and the mechanism of
vanillic acid on the prevention of
obesity induced by diet, which is one of the
anthocyanin metabolites. We fed C57BL/6J mice
vanillic acid supplements in a high fat and high
fructose diet for 16 weeks.
Body weight, fat pat weight, and food and water intake were monitored.
Glucose homeostasis was assessed with a
glucose or
insulin tolerance test. The sizes of adipose cells and lipid droplets were analyzed by histology staining, while the expression of genes and
proteins was analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR, western blot and tissue-blot immunoassay. The results demonstrated that
vanillic acid contributed to the reduction of
body weight gain, improved
glucose tolerance and
insulin resistance, and maintained body temperature. Furthermore,
vanillic acid was found to promote thermogenesis and mitochondrial synthesis of brown adipose tissue and inguinal white adipose tissue. This study demonstrated that
vanillic acid could prevent
obesity by activating BAT thermogenesis and the promotion of inguinal WAT browning.