Cyanidin-3-O-galactoside from Aronia melanocarpa attenuates high-fat diet-induced obesity and inflammation via AMPK, STAT3, and NF-κB p65 signaling pathways in Sprague-Dawley rats

•Cyanidin-3-O-galactoside potentially prevents obesity and inflammation.•Cyanidin-3-O-galactoside alleviated obesity by promoting AMPK.•Cyanidin-3-O-galactoside inhibited inflammation by regulating STAT3 and NF-κB p65. The potential of cyanidin-3-O-galactoside (C3G) from Aronia melanocarpa in preventing high-fat diet (HFD) rats obesity was investigated. Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were fed with a normal diet or HFD for 8 weeks. After successful modeling, HFD rats were supplemented with either orlistat (30 mg/kg body weight (bw)/day) or C3G (100 and 200 mg/kg bw/day) for 8 weeks. Results showed that supplementation with C3G could inhibit body weight gain and reduce serum lipids, fat accumulation, and Lee’s index in HFD rats. Treatment with C3G significantly decreased the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in serum. Moreover, C3G alleviated HFD-induced obesity by promoting phosphorylation of adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and inhibited HFD-induced inflammation by promoting the phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and suppressing nuclear factor kappa-B p65 (NF-κB p65) in the nucleus. Thus, the C3G from Aronia melanocarpa could potentially prevent obesity and inflammation in rats fed with high-fat diet.