Effects of high fat diets and supplemental tart cherry and fish oil on obesity and type 2 diabetes in male and female C57BL/6J and TALLYHO/Jng mice

Abstract

Obesogenic and diabetogenic high fat (HF) diets can influence genetic factors in disease development with sexual dimorphic responses. We investigated potential protective effects of tart cherry (TC), fish oil (FO) and TC+FO supplementation in TALLYHO/Jng (TH) and C57BL/6J (B6) mice fed HF diets. Male and female TH and B6 mice were weaned onto five different diets; low fat (LF), HF, and HF supplemented with TC, FO, or TC+FO and maintained. For both males and females on LF, TH mice were heavier and fatter than B6, which was accentuated by HF in males, but not in females. TH males, but not others, developed severe glucose intolerance and hyperglycemia on HF, with reduced mRNA levels of Adipoq and Esr1 in adipose tissue. Considering energy balance, locomotor activity was lower in TH mice than B6 for both sexes without diet effects, except B6 females where HF decreased it. Compared to LF, HF decreased energy expenditure, RER, and food intake (in grams) for both sexes without strain differences. In all mice, but B6 males, HF increased plasma IL6 levels compared to LF. No preventive effects of TC, FO or TC+FO were noted for HF-induced obesity or energy imbalance, but FO alleviated glucose intolerance in TH males. Further, TC and FO decreased plasma IL6 levels, especially in females, without additive or synergistic effects of these two. Collectively, obesogenic and diabetogenic impacts of HF diets differed depending on the genetic predisposition. Moreover, sexually dimorphic effects of dietary supplementation were observed for glucose metabolism and inflammatory markers.

Keywords: Obesity; fish oil; gene-diet interaction; inflammation; sexual dimorphism; tart cherry; type 2 diabetes.