Red Cabbage Microgreens Lower Circulating Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL), Liver Cholesterol, and Inflammatory Cytokines in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States, and hypercholesterolemia is a major risk factor. Population studies, as well as animal and intervention studies, support the consumption of a variety of vegetables as a means to reduce CVD risk through modulation of hypercholesterolemia. Microgreens of a variety of vegetables and herbs have been reported to be more nutrient dense compared to their mature counterparts. However, little is known about the effectiveness of microgreens in affecting lipid and cholesterol levels. The present study used a rodent diet-induced obesity (DIO) model to address this question. C57BL/6NCr mice (n = 60, male, 5 weeks old) were randomly assigned to six feeding groups: (1) low-fat diet; (2) high-fat diet; (3) low-fat diet + 1.09% red cabbage microgreens; (4) low-fat diet + 1.66% mature red cabbage; (5) high-fat diet + 1.09% red cabbage microgreens; (6) high-fat diet + 1.66% mature red cabbage. The animals were on their respective diets for 8 weeks. We found microgreen supplementation attenuated high-fat diet induced weight gain. Moreover, supplementation with microgreens significantly lowered circulating LDL levels in animals fed the high-fat diet and reduced hepatic cholesterol ester, triacylglycerol levels, and expression of inflammatory cytokines in the liver. These data suggest that microgreens can modulate weight gain and cholesterol metabolism and may protect against CVD by preventing hypercholesterolemia.

Microgreens: Consumer sensory perception and acceptance of an emerging functional food crop

“…Though the health impacts of microgreens were not assessed in the present study, the data from this study will inform future research studies that will evaluate their health impacts. Thus, microgreens were selected based on previous research evaluating their sensory attributes and consumer acceptability, nutritional characteristics, environmental sustainability, and health impacts (Huang et al., 2016; Weber, 2017; Xiao et al., 2012, 2015), as well as researcher interest and input regarding their potential for use as functional foods in reducing disease risk. The microgreen species were chosen due to their potential to provide diversity with respect to their organoleptic properties, as well as micronutrients and bioactive compounds demonstrated to influence human health.…”

“…Available data indicate that microgreens are rich sources of micronutrients and bioactive compounds, and that the contents of these compounds may be higher than that of their mature counterparts (Choe et al., 2018; Paradiso et al., 2018; Weber, 2017; Xiao, Lester, Luo, & Wang, 2012). In fact, various microgreen species have been shown in several independent investigations to contain higher levels (up to 260‐fold higher in some cases) of certain vitamins (i.e., vitamins C, E, K, and provitamin A/beta‐carotene), minerals (i.e., calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc, selenium, and molybdenum), and bioactive compounds (i.e., carotenoids, total polyphenols, anthocyanins, glucosinolates, and chlorophyll) than mature counterparts (Huang et al., 2016; Paradiso et al., 2018; Pinto, Almeida, Aguiar, & Ferreira, 2015; Xiao et al., 2012). These data suggest that microgreens can be utilized as a concentrated source of micronutrients and health‐promoting bioactive compounds, though more research is needed to elucidate their nutritional and bioactive compound properties, particularly with respect to the influence of growing practices.…”

“…Because microgreens can be grown year‐round in most indoor locales and particularly in controlled environments, they may be useful in facilitating adaptations to population growth, urbanization, and global climate change, while also increasing the availability of high nutritional quality vegetable crops throughout the year (Benke & Tomkins, 2017; Choe et al., 2018; Mir et al., 2017; Weber, 2017). The high nutritional quality of microgreens and potential ease of meal incorporation suggests they can promote fresh vegetable consumption, micronutrient sufficiency, and increased bioactive compound intake for the promotion of human health and to achieve specific health effects as functional foods such as reduced cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk (Huang et al., 2016; Johnson, Litwin, & Seals, 2019).…”

Microgreen nutrition, food safety, and shelf life: A review

“…Huang et al. () found that red cabbage microgreen supplementation had health‐promoting effects in mice fed a high fat diet. Supplementation with microgreens attenuated body weight gain, lowered low‐density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol levels, reduced hepatic cholesterol ester and triglyceride levels, and inflammatory cytokines.…”

“…Supplementation of high fat diet with mature red cabbage also had beneficial effects but did not reduce triglyceride levels. Interestingly, supplementation of low‐fat diet with red cabbage microgreens raised both low‐density lipoprotein and high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (Huang et al., ).…”