- Title
- Strategies for reducing systemic inflammation in obesity
- Creator
- Williams, Evan James
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2019
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- The prevalence of overweight and obese individuals in Australia is currently 63% of adults according to current data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is comprised of 35.3% being overweight and 27.5% being obese. Overweight and obesity increase the risk of developing a number of comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and cancer. Achieving and maintaining weight loss is the best solution for this problem, however, it is well accepted that this is unattainable for some individuals. Thus, alternative strategies to reduce the prevalence of comorbidities in this population are required. It is known that chronic, low-grade systemic inflammation is a key component of obesity which drives the development of some, if not all, of the comorbidities associated with the disease. This systemic inflammation is thought to be driven by the presence of immune cells in adipose tissue, in particular macrophages. In obese and overweight individuals these macrophages switch from the inactive (M2) phenotype to active pro-inflammatory (M1) phenotype resulting in systemic inflammation. It is also known that activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome is a key feature of obesity-induced systemic inflammation. This is thought to be activated by danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), such as saturated fatty acids which are elevated in the circulation of obese individuals. Previous studies have shown that dietary phytochemicals, found in many fruits and vegetables, have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects by affecting inflammatory signaling pathways. In Chapter 2, we show that supplementation with an encapsulated fruit and vegetable juice concentrate improved the metabolic profile of overweight and obese individuals, while those who had higher levels of systemic inflammation saw the greatest improvements. In Chapter 3 and 4, we have used in vitro models to investigate the ability of another phytochemical found in cruciferous vegetables, sulforaphane, to reduce the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines gene expression associated with NLRP3, from stimulated immune cells collected from obese individuals. These findings suggest that sulforaphane supplementation could also potentially be used to reduce systemic inflammation associated with obesity. The data presented in this thesis highlights the potential of nutraceuticals, in the form of a fruit and vegetable juice concentrate and sulforaphane (likely in supplemental doses) to reduce systemic inflammation in obesity. The ability of increased fruit and vegetable intake to reduce systemic inflammation has previously been described in the general population. This thesis shows that in obese individuals, in whom diet quality is typically poor, these nutraceutical approaches may provide useful anti-inflammatory strategies, thereby reducing the risk of chronic inflammatory disease.
- Subject
- obesity; systemic inflammation; inflammasome; macrophages
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1401110
- Identifier
- uon:34872
- Rights
- Copyright 2019 Evan James Williams
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 204 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |