Protective Effects of Red Paprika and Capsanthin against Obesogenic Sarcopenia: Evidence from In Vitro and In Vivo Studies
Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle mass and muscle function, characteristic of aging, inflammation, and cancer.
When associated with obesity, it becomes obesogenic sarcopenia or obese sarcopenia, increasing morbidity and mortality compared to sarcopenia or obesity alone. The reduction in muscle mass is caused by inflammation, ectopic fat deposition, and mitochondrial dysfunction.
Paprika, rich in capsanthin, has demonstrated beneficial effects on metabolic and lipid health in previous studies, but its impact on obesogenic sarcopenia has not been clarified. The study aims to examine the effects of paprika and capsanthin on this condition.
Red paprika (RP) is rich in carotenoids and capsanthin (CS) is its main carotenoid. This study determined whether red paprika and capsanthin could improve obesogenic sarcopenia.
C2C12 myotubes were co-treated with 500 μM palmitic acid (PA) and 1 and 5 μg/mL of red paprika or 0.5 and 1.0 μM of capsanthin for 24 hours.
Both RP and CS effectively attenuated PA-induced myotube atrophy. Obese male C57BL/6 mice (n = 40) were fed high-fat diets containing 5 and 10% RP or 0.025% CS for 10 weeks.
Supplementation with RP and CS increased lean body mass, muscle performance, mtDNA content, and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation while decreasing intracellular lipid accumulation in muscle tissue.
Furthermore, both RP and CS increased myosin-heavy chains and decreased the expression of atrogenes, associated with mTORC1 signaling activation.
These results demonstrate that red paprika and capsanthin protect against obesogenic sarcopenia by improving mitochondrial function.
In conclusion, these findings suggest that RP and its active compound CS improve obesity-induced skeletal muscle atrophy and attenuate mitochondrial dysfunction, indicating that RP and CS can be included in the diet to protect against obesity-induced skeletal muscle atrophy.
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Source: Young In Kim, Ji-Sun Kim, Hyunjung Lee, Chang Hwa Jung, Jiyun Ahn,Whole red paprika (Capsicum annuum L.) and its orange-red pigment capsanthin ameliorate obesity-induced skeletal muscle atrophy in mice, Journal of Functional Foods, Volume 107, 2023, 105624, ISSN 1756-4646, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2023.105624.
