Study Finds That Blue Corn Could Help Treat Metabolic Syndrome

A recent study suggests that blue corn could be used to treat metabolic syndrome. However, the researchers suggest that blue corn may have the potential to protect against health conditions caused by poor diet by treating or even preventing metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors that can increase the chances of developing health conditions such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The factors that increase these risks are abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high triglyceride level, low HDL cholesterol, and high blood sugar.

A doctor requires the presence of three or more of the aforementioned risk factors to diagnose metabolic syndrome. An unhealthy diet is the major cause of metabolic syndrome, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends adopting a heart-healthy diet such as fruits, fish, legumes, nuts, poultry, seeds, whole grains and vegetables, so as to minimize the risk factors.

Study co-author Rosa Isela Guzman-Geronimoa, of the Basic Sciences Institute at the University of Veracruz in Mexico, and colleagues found that rats with diet-induced metabolic syndrome experienced a substantial reduction in abdominal fat when fed with blue corn extract.

In addition, the blue corn extract also caused substantial improvements to the rodents' systolic blood pressure, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, also known as good cholesterol and triglycerides. The researchers suggest that adding blue corn to diet might be an effective way to prevent metabolic syndrome.

The study was conducted to check how blue corn affects metabolic syndrome in rats. Blue corn grown in Mexico and the Southwestern United States, has good nutritional value. Studies have shown that it is high in lysine, iron, and zinc.

The corn gets its blue color from compounds known as anthocyanins with previous studies suggesting that the compounds have antioxidant properties that can help to protect against obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, according to Medical Express. The researchers checked how blue corn might reduce the effects of a poor diet and help to combat metabolic syndrome.

They fed the rats a diet with high sugar and cholesterol for 12 weeks to induce metabolic syndrome, after which the mice were assigned into four different groups. The researchers then fed group one with a high sugar diet, group two with a high cholesterol diet, group three with a diet high in cholesterol and sugar, and group four with a diet high in cholesterol and sugar, plus blue corn extract.

The researchers found that the fourth group fed with a diet high in sugar, cholesterol and blue corn extract gained less abdominal fat compared to groups that did not receive the extract. Furthermore, the rats that received the blue corn extract had an increase in beneficial HDL cholesterol, as well as reductions in systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol levels and blood triglyceride levels, according to MNT.

Although, further studies are required to determine the potential health benefits of blue corn in humans, the researchers believe that the recent study indicates that blue corn may be a promising nutraceutical option for the treatment of metabolic syndrome.

They published their findings in the Journal of Medicinal Food.