Latha Ramalingam

Vitamin D (vit D) and fish oil (FO) both offer unique health benefits, however, their combined effects have not been evaluated in obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Hence, we hypothesized that vit D and FO supplementation would have additive effects in reducing obesity-associated inflammation and NAFLD. Male C57BL6 mice were split into four groups and fed a high fat (HF) diet supplemented with a low (HF; +200 IU vit D) or high dose of vitamin D (HF + D; +1000 IU vit D); combination of vit D and FO (HF-FO; +1000 IU vit D); or only FO (HF-FO; +200 IU vit D) for 12 weeks. We measured body weight, food intake, glucose tolerance, and harvested epididymal fat pad and liver for gene expression analyses. Adiposity was reduced in groups supplemented with both FO and vit D. Glucose clearance was higher in FO-supplemented groups compared to mice fed HF. In adipose tissue, markers of fatty acid synthesis and oxidation were comparable in groups that received vit D and FO individually in comparison to HF. However, the vit D and FO group had significantly lower fatty acid synthesis and higher oxidation compared to the other groups. Vit D and FO also significantly improved fatty acid oxidation, despite similar fatty acid synthesis among the four groups in liver. Even though we did not find additive effects of vit D and FO, our data provide evidence that FO reduces markers of obesity in the presence of adequate levels of vit D.

Obesity is a fast-growing epidemic affecting more than 40% of the US population and leads to co-morbidities such as type 2 diabetes and cancer. More importantly, there is a rapid increase in childhood obesity associated with obesity in parents. Further, offspring are encoded with approximately half of their genetic information from the paternal side. Obesity in fathers at the preconceptional period likely influences the intergenerational development of obesity. This study focuses on the role of fish oil supplementation as a non-pharmacological intervention in fathers and its impact on childhood obesity using animal models. Male mice were fed a low-fat diet or high-fat diet with or without fish oil for 10 weeks and mated with female mice on a chow diet. Offspring were then continued on a chow diet until 8 or 16 weeks. In vivo insulin tolerance was tested to assess the metabolic health of offspring. Further, adipose tissue was harvested upon sacrifice, and genetic markers of inflammation and lipid metabolism in the tissue were analyzed. Offspring of males supplemented with fish oil showed lower body weight, improved insulin tolerance, and altered inflammatory markers. Markers of fatty acid oxidation were higher, while markers of fatty acid synthesis were lower in offspring of fathers fed fish oil. This supports fish oil as an accessible intervention to improve offspring metabolic health.