The anti-obesity effect of lotus leaves on high-fat-diet-induced obesity by modulating lipid metabolism in C57BL/6J mice

Lotus leaves ( Nelumbo nucifera ) are widely used in medicines and foods. The investigate systematically studied the anti-obesity effect of lotus leaf extracts. It could reduce body weight, alleviate liver damage, and inhibit fat accumulation in high-fat-diet-induced obese mice. Lotus leaf extracts reduced serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (AKP) levels; decreased total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in the serum; and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels to improve dyslipidemia. Lotus leaves also inhibited inflammation accompanied by obesity via decreasing inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), and IL-6 levels and increasing anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4 and IL-10 levels. qPCR analysis revealed that lotus leaves upregulated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPAR-α), lipoprotein lipase (LPL), carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT1), and cholesterol 7 alpha hydroxylase (CYP7A1) mRNA expressions and downregulated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (C/EBP-α) mRNA expressions, to reduce adipocyte differentiation and fat accumulation, promote oxidation of fat and decomposition of triglyceride and cholesterol. So, lotus leaves effectively regulated lipid metabolism, alleviated inflammation and liver injury in obese mice; thus, lotus leaves could be further developed as a food to combat obesity.