Adzuki Bean Water Extract Attenuates Obesity by Modulating M2/M1 Macrophage Polarization and Gut Microbiota Composition.

Obesity is a chronic condition that is caused by imbalance of energy intake and expenditure, resulting in excessive fat accumulation in white adipose tissues. Adipose tissue is now considered to be an immune organ, at the cross-road between metabolism and immunity. Thus, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of Adzuki bean water extract on obesity and gut microbiota in high-fed diet-induced mice.In this study, adzuki bean hot water extract (AWE) was determined to have the most significant anti-adipogenic effect; it was able to inhibit lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, and it reduced body weight and white adipose tissue weight in a dose-dependent manner. AWE treatment also decreased M1-polarized adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) while inducing M2-polarized ATMs. The number and size of fat vacuoles in liver lesions were significantly reduced, indicating that AWE could ameliorate steatosis in HFD-induced mice. The results also demonstrated that AWE-treated groups inhibited adipogenesis via activating the wingless-type MMTV integration site (Wnt)/β-catenin pathway and reduced adipogenesis-associated transcription factors peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) and CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins α (C/EBPα) expression. Moreover, our studies confirmed that AWE could decrease obesity through modulating gut microbiota.The results demonstrate that AWE supplementation ameliorates HFD-induced obesity and gut microbiota composition and suggest that AWE may have potential to be developed into a functional food to improve metabolic disorders. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.