| So what would
happen if rats were fed C3G as part of a high-fat diet? To
find out, researchers compared the body weights of mice fed
a high-fat diet with another group fed the same diet but with
the addition of the purple pigment. After 12 weeks, the results
were clear: mice with the pigment in their diet gained significantly
less weight. Even the fat in their bodies weighed significantly
less. |
| |
| In addition,
fat in the mice that didn’t get the pigment in their
feed was found to be growing in size, but showed no increase
in the pigment-fed mice. The high-fat diet also induced a
state of hyperglycemia along with an over-production of insulin.
But this was not so in the mice with the pigment in their
feed. In fact, both problems were completely normalized. |
| |
| Dietary purple
corn color had other benefits besides: it suppressed enzymes
in the body that help synthesize fatty acid substances. In
conclusion, the researchers stated that their tests of the
purple corn color provide a nutritional and biochemical basis
for the use of the pigment or anthocyanins as a “functional
food factor”— one that may be beneficial for preventing
diabetes and obesity. |
| |
|
Kenneth Jones is a medical
writer specializing in the field of medicinal plants.
|
| |
|
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