Salicornia herbacea prevents weight gain and hepatic lipid accumulation in obese ICR mice fed a high‐fat diet

BACKGROUND: Foods that are rich in fat and or sodium chloride promote obesity and associated diseases, whereas intake of dietary fiber averts obesity development. Salicornia herbacea (SH) is a rich source of dietary fiber and high in sodium chloride; therefore, we investigated whether replacing common salt with SH in a high‐fat diet could prevent obesity development. RESULTS: Mice were divided into five groups: group ND was fed a normal diet, group HD was fed a high‐fat diet, group HD‐NaCl was fed a high fat diet with sodium chloride 10 g kg⁻¹, group HD‐CL was fed a high‐fat diet with cellulose 30 g kg⁻¹ and group HD‐SH was fed a high‐fat diet with SH powder 50 g kg⁻¹. The amount of sodium chloride and cellulose added in the respective diet was equivalent to their amount in SH. Data from our study showed that, SH supplementation significantly decreased body weight gain, liver weight, hepatic triglyceride, serum leptin and insulin, along with the mRNA level of key lipid anabolic genes such as SREBP‐1c, PPARγ and FAS compared to the HD group. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that SH is a potential natural anti‐obesity agent that can be used in place of sodium chloride. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry