Researchers from Texas A&M University and elsewhere have assessed the biochemical, histological and molecular effects of whole pecans (Carya illinoinensis) and pecan phenolic extracts on the development of early and late alterations in metabolic organs of mice through a preventive strategy and an interventionary one.
Obesity is the major risk factor for metabolic syndrome, characterized by glucose intolerance, hepatic fat accumulation and increased circulating lipids and which if left untreated leads to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Several underlying causes of the metabolic derangements during obesity have been proposed, including adipose tissue dysfunction, increased hepatic lipogenesis, reduced skeletal muscle mitochondrial content and activity and microbiota dysbiosis (altered microbial diversity and composition).
However, the temporal appearance and the prominence of each of these metabolic alterations is still not clear.
The U.S. and Mexico are two of the countries with the highest rates of obesity worldwide.
In average obesity prevalence among U.S. adults was ~42.4% in the period 2017–2018 in both men and women and overall estimated projections of ~50% adults by 2030.
Similarly, in Mexico it was reported that >30% of the adult population was obese by 2018 with estimated projections of ~54% and 37% for men and women by 2050.
These numbers, and the fact that in both countries cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes are the leading cause of mortality, demand an intensification of efforts in studying the mechanism that leads from obesity to metabolic syndrome in order to develop novel preventive and therapeutic strategies to prevent these diseases.
One of these strategies comprises the consumption of functional foods containing beneficial bioactive compounds such as fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts as part of the regular diet that could potentially exert health-promoting effects against the…
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