A high fat-high sucrose diet enriched in blue mussels protects against systemic inflammation, metabolic dysregulation and weight gain in C57BL/6 mice.

High fat-high sucrose (HF-HS) diet, known as the western diet, has been shown to induce the onset of obesity via increasing metabolic inflammation, insulin resistance and adipose tissue dysfunction. Hyperleptinemia, hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia are also the primary observations of obesogenic diet induced obesity. We have previously reported anti-adipogenic and insulin sensitizing effects of blue mussels (BM) using 3T3-L1 cells. BM is a rich source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, phytosterols and other micronutrients that has been shown to elicit benefits under obese conditions using in-vitro cell culture models. However, no studies to date have established the anti-obesity effects, safety and efficacy of BM in an in-vivo animal model. In the present study, we fed a HF-HS diet supplemented with different concentrations of BM freeze-dried powder (1.25, 2.5 and 5% w/w) to C57BL/6 mice for 12weeks. A HF-HS diet caused rapid weight gain, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, hyperleptinemia, and increased plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines; interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Incorporating 2.5% BM in the HF-HS diet prevented weight gain, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia and reduced the levels of inflammatory cytokines and leptin mRNA expression. Furthermore, plasma from 2.5% BM increased cholesterol efflux capacity of J774 macrophage cells, compared to plasma from HF-HS diet. There was no effect of 1.25% BM on any tested parameters, while 5% BM was not palatable after four weeks. In conclusion, our findings have established the efficacy and safety of BM using C57BL/6 mice, demonstrating that BM has the potential to target obesity and related complications.