代謝症候群是指許多異常病徵的集合,其中包括肥胖,胰島素阻抗,血脂異常和高血壓。代謝症候群高危險群容易患有第 2 型糖尿病和心血管疾病。肥胖和胰島素阻抗是代謝症候群主要危險因子。肥胖在病理上定義為脂肪組織的增生與肥大。胰島素阻抗則是定義為細胞對於胰島素敏感性降低因而抑制葡萄糖的運輸。此外,脂肪細胞會分泌多種脂肪激素,如脂聯素 (adiponectin) 、腫瘤壞死因子-α (TNFα) 、瘦素 (leptin) 和抵抗素 (resistin) ,這些激素可能會影響全身的代謝並與胰島素阻抗有關。功能性食品是指提供營養的基本功能之外具有促進健康或預防疾病的食品。因此,本論文欲尋求能開發改善肥胖和肥胖相關代謝症候群的功能性食品。近來研究都集中使用不同組合配方改善代謝症候群部分的病徵。然而,完全改善代謝症候群所有症狀是不容易的。多功能性的食品開發可能是一個預防和改善代謝症候群更好的策略。在我們的研究中,每個功能性食品配方,如洛神、綠藻、肉桂、苦瓜和甘草被視為能夠改善胰島素阻抗、肥胖、血脂異常和高血壓的食材。首先我們從皮下和腎周脂肪組織分離出脂肪前驅細胞並利用兩種分化配方來培養。然後,分析脂肪細胞分化程度及代謝因子間的關係。結果發現,這些低劑量成分複方組合比每種成分單獨有相對更好的預防脂質生成效果。總之,本研究期以開發防止肥胖和肥胖相關的代謝症候群之保健食品作為目標。
The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of interrelated abnormalities which include obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and hypertension. People with metabolic syndrome are highly at risk for developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The principal risk factors involved in the development of metabolic syndrome are obesity and insulin resistance. Obesity is defined as a state of pathological hyperplasia and/or hypertrophy of adipose tissue. Insulin resistance is defined as a decreased sensitivity of target cells to insulin-stimulated glucose transport. Moreover, adipocyte secret numerous adipocytokines, such as adiponectin, TNF-α, leptin, and resistin, which can affect systemic metabolism and consequentially cause insulin resistance. Functional food refer to processed food which claim to have health-promoting or disease-preventing properties beyond the basic function of supplying nutrients. Therefore, development of anti - obesity functional food is a good strategy against obesity and obesity-related metabolic syndrome. Several studies have focused on developing different food ingredient aimed at combating partial disorders. However, it is not easy to fully counteract the development of multi-factorial metabolic syndrome. Development of multi-component functional foods may be a better preventive and intervention strategy to combat the burden of metabolic syndrome. In our study, each functional food ingredient, such as roselle, chlorella, cinnamon, and bitter gourd, was taken as a potential candidate to ameliorate the development of insulin resistance, obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension, separately. The cells were isolated from the stromal vascular fraction of both subcutaneous and perirenal- fat depots, and the subset was cultured with two differentiation cocktails. Then, we analyzed the relationship between the degree of preadipocyte differentiation and metabolic factors. Furthermore, relative low-dose combination of these single ingredients showed better preventive effects than each ingredient test individually. In conclusion, with multiple ingredients could serve as a nutraceutical to prevent the development of obesity and obesity-related metabolic syndrome.