Yam Gruel and metformin in diabetic rats' livers
What it found
In diabetic rats, Yam Gruel alone or with metformin lowered fasting blood sugar, liver weight and liver fat, and improved blood fats and liver function.
The combination worked better than either alone for several of these measures.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Blood sugar and weight
In diabetic rats, Yam Gruel alone or with metformin lowered fasting blood sugar from the second week onward, with significant drops by weeks four and six. Body weight in treated rats stopped falling and began to rise after the fourth week.
Liver weight and fat
After six weeks, liver weight and liver-to-body weight ratio were much lower in all three treatment groups than in the untreated diabetic rats. Liver fat accumulation, seen under the microscope, was also reduced in the treated groups.
Blood fats and liver function
Yam Gruel and/or metformin lowered total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and nonesterified fatty acids, and raised HDL cholesterol in diabetic rats. The same treatments also lowered ALT and AST, which are markers of liver function.
Combination versus single
The combination of Yam Gruel and metformin was more effective than either alone at lowering total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, nonesterified fatty acids, ALT and AST. It also reduced liver fat staining more than either single treatment.
AMPK pathway in liver
In the liver tissue of diabetic rats, Yam Gruel increased the activity of the AMPK/ACC/CPT-1 pathway, which is involved in burning fat. The combination treatment boosted these pathway markers more than Yam Gruel or metformin alone.
What the authors conclude
“These results demonstrated that Yam Gruel may be a potential diet therapy for improving lipid metabolism in T2DM patients and that it may exert its effects via AMPK/ACC/CPT-1 pathway activation.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that Yam Gruel may be a potential diet therapy for improving lipid metabolism in T2DM patients.
- They state that its effects may work by activating the AMPK/ACC/CPT-1 pathway.
- They note that in some respects, the combination of Yam Gruel and metformin gave more benefits than Yam Gruel alone.
How it was done
The authors wanted to see whether Yam Gruel affects fat metabolism in the liver through the AMPK/ACC/CPT-1 pathway, which had not been studied before. They also aimed to find a diet therapy for type 2 diabetes patients in China who struggle to cut carbohydrates at breakfast.
They fed 40 male Wistar rats either a normal diet or a high-fat, high-sugar diet for six weeks, then injected the high-fat group with streptozotocin to make them diabetic. Thirty rats (24 diabetic and 6 control) were split into five groups: control, model, Yam Gruel, metformin, and Yam Gruel plus metformin, and each treatment was given by gavage for six weeks.
What it can’t tell you
- This study was in rats, so it cannot show what happens in people.
- The specific compounds in Yam Gruel responsible for the effects are not known from this work.
- The study did not test whether Yam Gruel helps human patients with type 2 diabetes.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China; the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no competing interests.
- Authors work at
- Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China; People's Hospital Affiliated to Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China
The paper
- Title
- Yam Gruel alone and in combination with metformin regulates hepatic lipid metabolism disorders in a diabetic rat model by activating the AMPK/ACC/CPT-1 pathway
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Dai Y, Qiu C, Zhang D, Li M, Liu W (2024). Yam Gruel alone and in combination with metformin regulates hepatic lipid metabolism disorders in a diabetic rat model by activating the AMPK/ACC/CPT-1 pathway. Lipids in health and disease. doi:10.1186/s12944-024-02014-2Free full textPubMed 38273354DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error