Alkaline Water Helps Obese Mice Lose Weight and Reduce Fat Storage
- Authors
- Rosa Mistica Coles Ignacio, Tae-Young Kang, Cheol-Su Kim, Soo-Ki Kim, Young-Chul Yang, Joon-Hyung Sohn, Kyu-Jae Lee
- Journal
- Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
- Year
- 2013
- DOI
- 10.1248/bpb.b12-00781
- Study Type
- Mouse
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- South Korea
- Health Condition
- Obesity
- Body System
- Endocrine
TL;DR
Drinking alkaline reduced water (ARW) helped reduce weight gain and fat buildup in mice on a high-fat diet.
Key Finding
In obese mice, alkaline reduced water reduced body weight gain, decreased fat accumulation around organs, and lowered liver fat compared to regular tap water.
Summary
Researchers gave obese mice either alkaline reduced water (water made alkaline and enriched through electrolysis) or regular tap water to see if it could help with weight gain and fat buildup. Mice drinking the alkaline reduced water gained less weight, accumulated less fat around their organs, and had less fat in their livers compared to mice drinking tap water. The water also affected hormones related to appetite and fat storage.
Practical Takeaway
This is an early-stage animal study showing potential anti-obesity effects of alkaline reduced water in mice. However, results in mice do not automatically translate to humans, and no human studies have tested this yet. Much more research would be needed before drawing any conclusions about whether this water could help with weight management in people.
Abstract
Whether or not alkaline reduced water (ARW) has a positive effect on obesity is unclear. This study aims to prove the positive effect of ARW in high-fat (HF) diet-induced obesity (DIO) in C57BL/6 mice model. Toward this, obesity was induced by feeding the C57BL/6 male mice with high-fat diet (w/w 45% fat) for 12 weeks. Thereafter, the animals were administered with either ARW or tap water. Next, the degree of adiposity and DIO-associated parameters were assessed: clinico-pathological parameters, biochemical measurements, histopathological analysis of liver, the expression of cholesterol metabolism-related genes in the liver, and serum levels of adipokine and cytokine. We found that ARW-fed mice significantly ameliorated adiposity: controlled body weight gain, reduced the accumulation of epididymal fats and decreased liver fats as compared to control mice. Accordingly, ARW coordinated the level of adiponectin and leptin. Further, mRNA expression of cytochrome P450 (CYP)7A1 was upregulated. In summary, our data shows that ARW intake inhibits the progression of HF-DIO in mice. This is the first note on anti-obesity effect of ARW, clinically implying the safer fluid remedy for obesity control.