Weight gain and metabolic changes in obese mice fed with lyophilisedpitaia (hylocereus undatus)

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of white pitaya (Hylocereus undatus) lyophilised in mice fed with high-fat diet to induce obesity. The animals were divided in groups (n=10), fed with control diet (C1), high-fat diet (C2), high-fat diet with lyophilised white pitaya at 2% (P2) and 4% (P4) during 12 weeks. It was calculated weight gain, food consumption and Feed Efficiency Ration (FER). The glucose tolerance test was performed. The histology of the liver and epididymal adipose tissue were analyzed. Fasting glycemia, lipid profile, and volume density of hepatic steatosis were measured. No influence of lyophilized white pitaya on weight gain and glucose tolerance in mice were observed. However, the lyophilised pitaya induced a greater satiety and showed improvement in the lipid profile, especially on values of HDL (increase of 72, 27% - P4) and triglycerides (decrease of 43,68% - P2). In addition, it presented a small improvement in liver impairment caused by excess saturated fat and simple carbohydrates. The consumption of pitaya did not contribute to reduce weight gain, however, it reduced the food consumption and improved the lipid metabolism even in the face of an unbalanced diet, rich in saturated fats and simple carbohydrates.