Spent brewer yeast glucan improves metabolic parameters and inflammatory markers reducing health risky changes imposed by the consumption of hypercaloric diet

β-glucans from yeasts are prebiotic health-promoting food ingredients able to boost immune response. An environmentally friendly source of yeast glucans is the spent brewer's yeast. This study investigated the effects of the administration of carboxymethyl glucan (CMG) (20 mg/kg, 12 weeks, orally), a derivative of the β-glucan from spent brewer's yeast, on food intake, weight gain, dyslipidemia, glucose intolerance, pro-inflammatory state, and hepatic steatosis of rats receiving a hypercaloric diet. The animals were divided into three groups: Normocaloric control (NCT); Hypercaloric diet and saline (HCT); and Hypercaloric diet and CMG (H-CMG). CMG administration could reduce rats' caloric value and food intake, reducing the index of adiposity (HCT:7.2±0.4% vs H-CMG:5.3±0.4% p