Using an antioxidant to reverse inflammation in the brain caused by a high-fat diet greatly improves symptoms related to obesity and Type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests.

 

Eating a high fat diet is associated to inflammation in the brain, which is considered a driving factor in the development of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, which his by far the most common form of the disease.

 

New Zealand researchers decided to investigate whether directly stopping the inflammatory process in the hypothalamus (the brain’s control center) could help lower blood sugar levels and reduce insulin resistance, the condition that leads to diabetes.

 

To find out they used two groups of obese mice, one that had become fat due to a deficiency in the leptin (the satiety hormone) and the other because of a high-fat diet.

 

They gave butein to the mice to block the signaling pathway, which is involved in the body's inflammatory immune responses. Butein is an antioxidant derived from plants traditionally used in Chinese herbal medicine. 

The researchers found that administering butein either directly into the brain or orally greatly improved glucose tolerance and brain insulin signaling in both types of obese mice.

 

The study adds to growing body of evidence that a diet high in saturated fats activates a cascade of inflammatory processes in the brain which leading to obesity and diabetes that is reversible, and also that doing so promotes a return to normal metabolic functioning, the researchers said.