The functional assessment of Alpinia pricei on metabolic syndrome induced by sucrose-containing drinking water in mice.

This study was designed to test whether Alpinia pricei (AP), a member of the ginger family indigenous to Taiwan, reduced metabolic syndrome induced by sucrose-containing drinking water in C57BL/6J mice. Mice given a chow diet were divided into a control group (C) or a test group given 30% sucrose water (SW) to drink ad libitum. After 22 weeks, mice in the SW group were subdivided into SW and SW + AP groups, the latter receiving a chow diet with an ethanol extract of AP (1500 mg/kg dosage). Four weeks later, bio-indexes associated with metabolic syndrome were measured. Compared with the C group, the SW group had significantly higher body weight, visceral fat weights, serum and tissue lipid, serum insulin level and the area under the curve for blood glucose of the insulin tolerance test (p < 0.05). These indicators in the SW + AP group were lower than in the SW group except for serum lipid, although slightly higher than the C group. The SW + AP group also showed significantly lower serum levels of leptin and tumor necrosis factor-alpha and a significantly higher level of adiponectin than the SW group. These results indicated that visceral adiposity and insulin resistance induced by sucrose water drinking might be alleviated by AP supplementation. (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.