Brown algae and barley-based anti-obesity food and its safety in C57BL6 mice.

Brown algae have been considered a potential source of bioactives and used as a dietary supplement to manage obesity and its associated health complications. However, its effective use is limited due to heavy metals and microbial contamination, unawareness of health benefits and limited dietary exploitation. We developed, the Indian brown algae Padina tetrastromatica and barley-based anti-obesity food (AOF) and examined for microbial and heavy metal safety. Additionally, acute [0 (control), 50, 100, 200, 500 g AOF/kg diet] and sub-acute [0, 5, 50 g AOF/kg diet] doses of AOF were fed to C57BL6 mice and toxicity was examined. The physical, locomotory, hematological, biochemical parameters and histopathology were examined. Postprandial plasma and tissue levels of fucoxanthin and its metabolites were analyzed. Feeding AOF did not affect the general behavior, food and water intake, growth or survival of animals. Biochemical indices did not show any differences between AOF-fed and control groups. However, significantly lower levels of plasma cholesterol and triglycerides in groups fed 5 and 50 g of AOF/kg diet were observed. The post-mortem examination revealed no macroscopic/microscopic alteration in the vital organs. Overall, results validate that AOF is a safe and effective dietary supplement (even at higher doses of 500 g AOF/kg) to mitigate obesity. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-022-05483-4. © Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2022.