Metabolic fate and cardiometabolic effects of phenolic compounds from red‐fleshed apple in hypercholesterolemic rats: A comparative study with common white‐fleshed apple. The AppleCOR Study

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the metabolic fate and the cardiometabolic effects of phenolic compounds (PC) provided by a red‐fleshed apple variety biofortified in anthocyanins (ACN). Wistar rats were feed with high‐fat diet (HFD) to induce hypercholesterolemia and supplemented with red‐fleshed apple (HFD+R), white‐fleshed apple (HFD+W) or an ACN‐rich infusion from aronia fruit (HFD+A) providing matched content and profile of ACN. Plasma biochemical parameters, histological analysis and phenol biological metabolites were determined. Plasma, urine and faeces showed a significant increase of ACN metabolites after HFD+R and HFD+A, while flavan‐3‐ols were significantly increased after HFD+W and dihydrochalcones derivatives increased after both apples supplementation. A cardioprotective effect was observed after both apples and aronia infusion supplementation in the reduction of aortic thickness. The kidney function was improved after all supplementations and a decrease in insulin plasma concentration after both apples supplementation (HFD+R and HFD+W) was also observed. Our findings support that ACN without apple matrix can induce cardioprotective effects. ACN or flavan‐3‐ols, together with dihydrochalcones, compose a phenolic phytocomplex in red and white‐fleshed apples, respectively, that could act synergistically in the attenuation of cardiovascular outcomes in hypercholesterolemic rats.

This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Economy and Competitiveness through the AGL2016-76943-C2-1-R and AGL2016-76943-C2-2-R projects (co-funded by the European Social Fund, European Union). I.A.L. enjoys a post-doctoral contract (2017PMF-POST2-19) from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement and from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV). S.Y. was supported by a grant from the University of Lleida. Ú.C. has a Pla estratègic de recerca i innovació en salut (PERIS) post-doctoral grant (SLT002/16/00239; Catalunya, Spain) from Generalitat de Catalunya. A.P. enjoys a post-doctoral grant (PTQ-15-08068; Spain). In addition, the authors are grateful to NUFRI SAT (Mollerussa, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain) for providing the red-fleshed apples. We are grateful to A. Martínez (Department of Medicine, University of Lleida) for helpful with the histological stains. Finally, we are grateful to SCT-Estabulari of the University of Lleida where the animal experiment was carried out.