Maternal green tea extract supplementation ameliorates insulin resistance in male offspring from dams fed a high-fat diet

Abstract

Green tea (GT) possesses beneficial effects against obesity and insulin resistance (IR). This study aimed to test the hypothesis that maternal green tea supplementation alleviates metabolic derangements in offspring born from obese dams. Female SD rats were fed a low-fat (LF), high-fat (HF), 0.75% or 1.0% GT extract added HF diet (HT1, HT2) from 8 wk before mating until end of lactation. GT dams tended to gain less during gestation but birth weight and litter size were not affected. There were 6 dam/pup diet groups: LF/HF, HF/HF, HF/HT1, HF/HT2, HT1/HF and HT2/HF. On d21 postpartum, GT dams had less visceral fat and lower insulin level than HF dams (n=8, p < 0.05). Body weight of pups from GT dams on d21 were lower (p < 0.05), but not on d91 than from HF dams. On d91, HT1/HF and HT2/HF rats had lower IR index than HF/HF and HF/HT1 rats (n=7–9, p < 0.02). Rats from GT dams had higher expression of uncoupling protein 1 in brown adipose tissue; adiponectin in adipocytes and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1 alpha in gastrocnemius but lower expression of hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase than HF/HF rats (p < 0.05). Hence, offspring of GT dams had better glucose handling and insulin sensitivity, and maternal exposure is more effective than postnatal GT supplementation. These results highlight the potential impact of dietary bioactive compounds on fetal development via metabolic programming.