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. 2021 Dec;26(8):2453-2461.
doi: 10.1007/s40519-020-01100-5. Epub 2021 Jan 10.

Whey proteins inhibit food intake and tend to improve oxidative balance in obese zucker rats

S G Sukkar  1 , N Traverso  2 , A L Furfaro  2 , B Tasso  3 , B Marengo  2 , C Domenicotti  2 , L Pisciotta  4   5 , A Pasta  5 , U M Marinari  2 , M A Pronzato  2 , D Cottalasso  2
Affiliations

Whey proteins inhibit food intake and tend to improve oxidative balance in obese zucker rats

S G Sukkar et al. Eat Weight Disord. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Background/aims: Whey proteins (WP), obtained from milk after casein precipitation, represent a heterogeneous group of proteins. WP are reported to inhibit food intake in diet-induced experimental obesity; WP have been proposed as adjuvant therapy in oxidative stress-correlated pathologies. This work evaluates the effects of WP in comparison with casein, as a source of alimentary proteins, on food intake, weight growth and some indexes of oxidative equilibrium in Zucker Rats, genetically prone to obesity.

Methods: We monitored food intake and weight of Zucker Rats during the experiment, and some markers of oxidative equilibrium.

Results: WP induced significant decrease of food intake in comparison to casein (WP 80.41 ± 1.069 ml/day; CAS: 88.95 ± 1.084 ml/day; p < 0.0005). Body weight growth was slightly reduced, and the difference was just significant (WP 128.2 ± 6.56 g/day; CAS 145.2 ± 3.29 g/day; p = 0.049), while plasma HNE level was significantly lower in WP than in CAS (WP 41.2 ± 6.3 vs CAS 69.61 ± 4.69 pmol/ml, p = 0.007). Mild amelioration of oxidative equilibrium was indicated by a slight increase of total glutathione both in the liver and in the blood and a significant decrease of plasma 4-hydroxynonenal in the group receiving WP.

Conclusions: The effect of WP on food intake and weight growth in Zucker Rats is particularly noteworthy since the nature of their predisposition to obesity is genetic; the possible parallel amelioration of the oxidative balance may constitute a further advantage of WP since oxidative stress is believed to be interwoven to obesity, metabolic syndrome and their complications.

Keywords: Appetite; Body weight; Food intake; Glutathione; HNE; Obesity; Oxidative stress; Whey protein.

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