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| Generating path of non-alcoholic fatty liver (provided by Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine) © News1 Designer Il-Hwan Kim |
Researchers in Korea have found that substances extracted from three types of insects, such as slugs, rice grasshoppers, and twin crickets, are effective in improving non-alcoholic fatty liver, which is closely related to obesity, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and metabolic syndrome.
The Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM, President Jong-Yeol Kim) announced on the 17th that Dr. Sung-Wook Chae’s team of the Oriental Medicine Research Department revealed the effect of improving non-alcoholic fatty liver of insect extract through animal experiments, and scientifically identified the mechanism of action through inhibition of fatty liver inducers.
Dong-Euibogam Tangakpyeon Chungbu introduces 95 kinds of medicinal materials, including amphibians and reptiles, mollusks, arthropods, crustaceans, shellfish, and insects. Insects include bees, mantises, cicadas, frogs, slugs, and silkworms.
The research team used slugs, rice locusts, and twin-byeol crickets, which are registered in the Food Code of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and are proven to be safe as food ingredients, and are in the spotlight as future foods, in this study.
The research team administered three extracts of slugs, rice locusts, and twin crickets to a model of mice that induced non-alcoholic fatty liver with a high fat diet, respectively, for 14 weeks of weight change, analysis of lipid-related factors in serum, and analysis of factors related to fat accumulation in liver tissue. Etc.
As a result, it was confirmed that serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, blood glucose level, and body weight decreased in all experimental groups administered with insect extract.
Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), enzymes that leak into the blood and increase blood levels during liver injury, were similarly decreased in the insect extract-treated group.
In particular, in the case of triglycerides, triglycerides were reduced by 31% compared to the positive control milk thistle in the experimental group administered with the bipolar cricket extract.
AST also decreased by 53% in the paired cricket extract-administered group compared to the high-fat diet group, which was the control group, which is higher than that of the positive control group administered with milk thistle (47%).
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| Comparison between normal and local (provided by Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine) © News1 |
The research team also studied the mechanism of action of insect extracts to inhibit fatty liver.
As a result, it was confirmed that insect extract reduced the expression of SREBP-1c, adiponectin, and cytokines, representative genes that induce fat accumulation by participating in the biosynthetic pathway of free fatty acids and cholesterol promoted by fatty liver.
In particular, in the case of SREBP1c, compared to the high fat diet group, the amount of expression in the insect extract-administered group decreased by 26%, and the effect was similar to that of milk thistle decreased by 25%.
Accordingly, it is expected to be used as a practical method for preventing and treating non-alcoholic fatty liver in the future.
Since non-alcoholic fatty liver has various causes and there are not many drugs that have proven effective in treatment, diet and exercise therapy have been suggested as major treatment methods.
“This study scientifically revealed the therapeutic effect and mechanism of action of insect extracts on non-alcoholic fatty liver,” said Seong-wook Chae. “We will present a new direction by utilizing insect resources for research on the prevention and treatment of various diseases in the future.” Said.
The results of this study were published in the June issue of the international academic journal Nutrients.
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| Dr. Seong-Wook Chae © News1 |
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