Effect of Seyoeum on Obesity, Insulin Resistance, and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease of High-Fat Diet-Fed C57BL/6 Mice

Background. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of Seyoeum (SYE), a novel herbal meal replacement, on insulin resistance and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in obese mice fed with a high-fat diet (HFD). Methods. SYE contained six kinds of herbal powder such as Coix lacryma-jobi, Oryza sativa, Sesamum indicum, Glycine max, Liriope platyphylla, and Dioscorea batatas. Male C57BL/6 mice were divided into four groups: normal chow (NC), HFD, SYE, and HFD plus SYE (HFD + SYE). The mice in groups other than NC were fed HFD for 9 weeks to induce obesity and then were fed each diet for 6 weeks. Clinical markers related to obesity, diabetes, and NAFLD were examined and gene expressions related to inflammation and insulin receptor were determined. Results. Compared with HFD group, body weight, serum glucose, serum insulin, HOMA-IR, total cholesterol, triglyceride, epididymal fat pad weight, liver weight, and inflammatory gene expression were significantly reduced in SYE group. Insulin receptor gene expression increased in SYE group. Conclusions. Based on these results, we conclude that SYE improved obesity and insulin resistance in high-fat fed obese mice. Our findings suggest that SYE could be a beneficial meal replacement through these antiobesity and anti-insulin resistance effects.