Seafood Proteins in the Prevention of the Metabolic Syndrome, 2013

The primary objective of this project was to develop new understanding of the role of diet, in particular lean seafood proteins in the protection against pathological characteristics of the metabolic syndrome. The project studied the nutritional composition in seafood sources, to quantify the ability of different seafood protein sources to protect from risk factors of the metabolic syndrome. Also, how dietary seafood proteins can protect against dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity, insulin-resistance and development of atherosclerotic lesions in mice was being studied. The hypothesis was that seafood protein sources rich in taurine and pantothenic acid can stimulate glutathione(GSH) synthesis and modulate bile-acid(BA) metabolism, and that this may induce intestinal release of glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and fibroblast growth factor 15/19(FGF15/19) to blood. The project also hypothesized that the blood BA concentration can be modestly elevated in seafood protein consuming animals and subjects. Collectively, the metabolic pathways activated through the increased GSH, BA, GLP-1, FGF15/19 levels will reduce many of the pathological characteristics of the metabolic syndrome, such as insulin resistance and hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis and abdominal obesity. Different seafood protein sources was screened for their content of different nutrients, and based on their content of taurine and pantothenic acid, a selection of seafood protein sources to be tested in experimental high-fat diets to mice was made.

本项目的核心目标，在于深化对膳食（尤其是瘦型海鲜蛋白（lean seafood proteins））在抵御代谢综合征（metabolic syndrome）病理特征方面作用的认知。本研究分析了各类海鲜原料的营养组成，以量化不同海鲜蛋白来源抵御代谢综合征风险因子的能力。此外，本项目还针对膳食海鲜蛋白如何在小鼠模型中抵御血脂异常（dyslipidemia）、腹部肥胖（abdominal obesity）、胰岛素抵抗（insulin-resistance）及动脉粥样硬化病变（atherosclerotic lesions）的发生发展开展了探究。本项目提出核心假说：富含牛磺酸（taurine）与泛酸（pantothenic acid）的海鲜蛋白来源，可促进谷胱甘肽（glutathione, GSH）合成并调控胆汁酸（bile-acid, BA）代谢；该过程可诱导肠道将胰高血糖素样肽-1（glucagon like peptide-1, GLP-1）与成纤维细胞生长因子15/19（fibroblast growth factor 15/19, FGF15/19）释放至血液循环。本项目同时提出另一假说：摄入海鲜蛋白的实验动物与人体受试者的血液胆汁酸浓度可出现适度升高。综上，通过提升谷胱甘肽、胆汁酸、GLP-1及FGF15/19水平所激活的代谢通路，可改善代谢综合征的诸多病理特征，包括胰岛素抵抗、高血糖（hyperglycemia）、血脂异常、动脉粥样硬化与腹部肥胖。本项目针对不同海鲜蛋白来源的各类营养物质含量进行了筛选，并基于其牛磺酸与泛酸含量，最终遴选出适用于小鼠高脂膳食实验的海鲜蛋白样品。