Effect of silkworm hemolymph on body fat in high‐fat diet‐induced obese mice

To determine the effects of silkworm hemolymph (SH) on body fat, we fed 30 C57BL/6 mice either normal diet (for control group, N) or high‐fat diet and lyophilized SH at a dose of 0, 1, 5, 10 §¢/ §,/day (for HF, HFS1, HFS5, HFS10), respectively, by oral gavage for 12 weeks. We determined body weight gain, feed efficiency ratio, adipose tissue weight, and plasma cholesterols, hormones (leptin and insulin). After 12 weeks feeding, the administration of SH significantly decreased final body weight but did not affect FER in HFS groups compared with the HF group. To determine whether final body weight reduction was caused by the decrease in adiposity, fat pads were dissected and weighed. The weights of epididymal fat and total fat were reduced in the SH treated groups without affecting the weights of subcutaneous fat, abdominal fat and kidney fat. Results from plasma analysis showed that the levels of low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol was significantly lowered by SH administration, and that the leptin level was reduced but insulin level was not affected. This results suggest that SH may have potential as a novel anti‐obesity agent in the control of body weight and obesity‐related metabolic diseases.