ORIGINAL ARTICLE  OTHER AREAS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2021 March;61(3):480-8

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.20.11260-X

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Licorice flavonoid oil supplementation promotes a reduction of visceral fat in exercised rats

Masayuki TANAKA ¹, Miho KANAZASHI ², Hiroyo KONDO ³, Akihiko ISHIHARA ⁴, Hidemi FUJINO ⁵ ✉

¹ Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Okayama Healthcare Professional University, Okayama, Japan; ² Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Mihara, Japan; ³ Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Nagoya Women’s University, Nagoya, Japan; ⁴ Laboratory of Cell Biology and Life Science, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; ⁵ Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan

BACKGROUND: The beneficial effect of exercise combined with licorice flavonoid oil supplementation on visceral fat was investigated.
METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 4 groups: control, exercise (Ex), control with licorice flavonoid oil supplementation (LFO), and exercise with licorice flavonoid oil supplementation (ExLFO) groups. The rats in the Ex and ExLFO groups ran on a treadmill (20-degree incline at 20 m/min for 30 min/day) 5 times a week for 7 weeks, and those in the LFO and ExLFO groups were orally administered with licorice flavonoid oil daily using a feeding needle.
RESULTS: Exercise or licorice flavonoid oil supplementation resulted in the reduction of the visceral fat mass and adipocyte size, respectively. In addition, exercise combined with licorice flavonoid oil supplementation more effectively decreased both measures. Exercise alone increased the β-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (β-HAD) and citrate synthase (CS) activities in the soleus and plantaris muscles, and licorice flavonoid oil supplementation alone increased the hepatic carnitine palmitoyl transferase-2 (CPT-2) activity. Furthermore, the combination of exercise and licorice flavonoid oil supplementation enhanced the both muscular β-HAD and CS activities, and hepatic CPT-2 activity.
CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that exercise combined with licorice flavonoid oil supplementation may be effective to decrease visceral adipose tissue via enhancing skeletomuscular and hepatic fatty acids oxidative capacity.

KEY WORDS: Flavonoids; Exercise; Intra-abdominal fat