Chronic caffeine ingestion down-regulates liver and visceral adipose tissue inflammatory gene expression in high-fat diet-induced obesity

Abstract

Background & Objective: Beverages containing caffeine have an anti-obesity function. Reduction of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) inflammation is considered an important strategy to ameliorate obesity compilations such as insulin resistance. This study aimed to investigate the effect of 8-week caffeine supplementation on the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of fetuin-A (FetA) in the liver and nuclear factor kappa B (Nf-κb) and toll-like receptor 4 (Tlr4) in the VAT of rats with a high-fat diet (HFD). Materials & Methods: A total of 40 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control, caffeine, HFD, and HFD+caffeine supplement groups. After 2 weeks of acclimatization, the rats were randomly fed with HFD (46% fat) and a normal diet (5% fat) for 8 weeks. The rats in the caffeine groups were gavaged with 6 mg of the caffeine solution per kg of body weight. FetA mRNA of the liver, Nf-κb, and Tlr4 mRNA of VAT were determined using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: The results indicated that FetA mRNA expression and weight gain in HFD+caffeine were significantly reduced compared to the other groups. Nf-κb mRNA expression was significantly higher in the HFD group than in the caffeine groups. No statistically significant differences were found in Tlr4 mRNA expression between the groups. Conclusion: These findings suggest that consuming caffeine can prevent HFD-induced liver and adipose tissue (AT) inflammation.