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The effects of Opuntia ficus indica (OFI) cladodes on uricemia level, endothelial dysfunction and oxidative damage were studied in young rats fed a cafeteria diet (CD).

A total of 16 young male Wistar rats (weighing 110 ± 20 g and four weeks old) were divided into two homogenous groups. The first group received a CD containing 50% of hyperlipidic diet and 50% of junk food mix (processed mix: hyper-fat, hyper-salted and sweetened) (CD group), and the second group (CD + OFI nopalitos) received the same diet supplemented with 50 g of fresh OFI nopalitos (young cladodes) for 30 days.

OFI nopalitos regulate the hyperuricemia, improve the endothelial dysfunction by raising the bioavailability of nitric oxide(NO) and reduce prooxidant markers by reducing lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation (p < 0.05) and boosting antioxidant capacity and enhancing the antioxidant enzymes activities (p < 0.05) in blood and aorta tissues of rats early fed with a high-fat diet /junk food.

By-products of OFI have specific functional properties that may be beneficial in metabolic disorders and offer a better alternative with an economic and sustainable development perspective.

By-products of OFI highlight potential functional properties mainly based on its potent antioxidant capacity. By-products of OFI can be used as a promising nutraceutical resource to prevent various metabolic disorders in relation with cardiovascular diseases or hyperuricemia in subjects consuming junk food and or living in the Western society to reach the objectives of health policy and maintain a sustainable health system development.

This paper aims to evaluate the protective potential of prickly pear cactus fresh cladodes (opuntia ficus indica (OFI)) on glycemic disorders, dyslipidemia, prooxidant/antioxidant stress biomarkers and reverse cholesterol transport (by evaluating the activity of lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT)) and paraoxonase (PON1) in rats prematurely exposed to cafeteria diet (CD).

Sixteen young rats were divided into two groups fed CD containing 50 per cent of hyperlipidic diet (HLD) and 50 per cent of junk food mix supplemented or not with 50 g of fresh young cladodes of OFI to 100 g of CD, during 30 days.

OFI cladodes supplementation decreased significantly body weight (p < 0.001), food intake (p < 0.05), adipose tissue weight (p < 0.01), fasting glycemia and glycosylated hemoglobin (p < 0.01), homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) and insulinemia (p < 0.001), levels of cholesterol (C) (p < 0.05) and triacylglycerols (TG) (p < 0.01) in serum and in very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL-C p < 0.05 and VLDL-TG p < 0.01) and improves reverse cholesterol transport by increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesteryl-esters concentrations (p < 0.001) and by stimulating LCAT activity. Moreover, they attenuated lipid peroxidation in VLDL and low-density lipoproteins by increasing atheroprotective activity of PON-1 and in liver and adipose tissue by enhancing enzymatic antioxidant defence.

The young cladodes of OFI because of their antiobesity benefits could constitute a novel functional ingredient in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications.

Young cladodes of OFI in rat precociously submitted to a hyperlipidic diet/junk food (cafeteria model) seem to prevent metabolic disorders associated with obesity.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of prickly pear (Opuntia ficus indica (OFI)) nopalitos on body weight, food consumption, arterial blood pressure, glucidic homeostasis, cholesterol metabolic pathway and tissues redox status in type 2 diabetic (T2D) rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD).

Rats were fed by a HFD containing 30 per cent sheep fat for 10 weeks, after which they were rendered diabetic by an injection of a low dose of streptozotocin (STZ) (35 mg/kg). The diabetic rats were then divided into two groups. The first group consumed the HFD supplemented with 5 per cent (g/100 g diet) of freeze-dried OFI nopalitos (HFD-OFI), and the second group received the HFD without supplementation (HFD).

OFI nopalitos treatment decreased significantly arterial diastolic (−20%; p = 0.0001) and systolic (−16%; p = 0.0001) pressures, glycemia (−14%; p = 0.03), insulinemia (−50%; p = 0.04), glycated hemoglobin (−49%; p = 0.003), homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (−67%; p = 0.03), cholesterolemia (−31%; p = 0.003), very-low and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (−38%; p = 0.002 and −63% p = 0.0002, respectively); thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and lipid hydroperoxide contents, respectively, in liver (−26% p = 0.02, −20% p = 0.02), adipose tissue (−30% p = 0.002, −25% p = 0.001), muscle (−29% p = 0.003, −25% p = 0.008) and kidney (lipid hydroperoxides only (−28%; p = 0.001) but increased high-density lipoprotein (HDL₂) cholesteryl esters (+61%; p = 0.0001), serum lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase activity (+21%; p = 0.006) and antioxidant enzymes activities (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase) of some tissues (liver, adipose tissue, muscle and kidney).

Freeze-dried OFI nopalitos improves arterial blood pressure, glycemic control, metabolic pathway of cholesterol and redox status in T2D rats.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of whole oat, oat bran and refined oat incorporation in a high-fat diet (HFD) on cardio-metabolic risk biomarkers in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

T2DM was induced by feeding male rats with an HFD for 10 weeks, followed by a low dose of streptozotocin. T2DM rats were then divided into four homogeneous groups. Three groups consumed an HFD containing 45 per cent (g/100 g diet) whole oat, oat bran or refined oat. The fourth untreated group (control) received the HFD.

The results showed that whole oat and oat bran, compared with refined oat and control, effectively reduced food intake (p < 0.007), arterial blood pressure (p = 0.0001), glycemia (p < 0.001), insulinemia (p < 0.01), glycosylated haemoglobin (p < 0.001) as well as homeostasis insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (p < 0.001). They also improved blood lipid levels and reverse cholesterol transport by reducing serum total cholesterol (p = 0.0001), triacylglycerols (p < 0.05), very-low- (p = 0.0001) and low-density lipoproteins cholesterol contents (p < 0.02) increasing lipids (p < 0.002) and cholesterol excretion (p = 0.0001), and high-density lipoprotein cholesteryl esters (HDL₂-CE) concentrations (p = 0.0001) and stimulating lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity (p = 0.0001). Moreover, they attenuated lipid peroxidation by increasing paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) atheroprotective activity (p < 0.05).

In T2DM rats, whole oat and particularly, its bran incorporated into an HFD improves arterial blood pressure, glycemic balance and lipid metabolic pathway by reducing hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia and increasing atheroprotective activities of LCAT and PON-1. In contrast, refined oat accentuates the risk factors associated with diabetes.