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Alginates in Metabolic Syndrome

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Book cover Alginates and Their Biomedical Applications

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Biomaterials Science and Engineering ((SSBSE,volume 11))

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Abstract

Alginates extracted from seaweeds are widely used for nutrition, but they are underutilised for the prevention or reversal of human disease. Alginates are long chains of α-L-guluronic acid and β-D-mannuronic acid from brown seaweeds that act as readily available, low cost, non-toxic and biodegradable biopolymers. Sodium alginates are primarily used for the management of gastrointestinal tract disorders, but they are of potential use to attenuate the components of the metabolic syndrome including obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and dyslipidaemia. As prebiotics, alginates changed the gut microbiome to increase production of short-chain fatty acids as substrates for Bifidobacteria. Alginates inhibited pancreatic lipases and so decreased triacylglycerol breakdown and uptake. Treatment with alginates decreased food intake by inducing satiety and increased weight loss in patients on a calorie-restricted diet. Both glucose and fatty acid uptake were reduced. In rat models of hypertension, alginates decreased blood pressure. An alginate-antacid combination is an effective treatment of gastric reflux disease by forming a raft on the gastric contents. Alginates are important as drug carriers in microparticles and nanoparticles to increase drug bioavailability, for example, in drugs used for treatment of metabolic syndrome. Alginates are also used to protect cells during transplantation from immune responses of the host, allowing potential long-term control of some endocrine disorders such as type 1 diabetes and increased thermogenesis by brown adipocytes in obesity. There are many potential uses for these versatile biopolymers in the treatment of human disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Tata Memorial Centre, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, 410210, India

    Senthil Arun Kumar

  2. School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia

    Lindsay Brown

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  1. Senthil Arun Kumar
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Correspondence to Lindsay Brown .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Cell Factories and Biopolymers, Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Bernd H.A. Rehm

  2. Department of Oral Biology, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

    M. Fata Moradali

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Kumar, S.A., Brown, L. (2018). Alginates in Metabolic Syndrome. In: Rehm, B., Moradali, M. (eds) Alginates and Their Biomedical Applications. Springer Series in Biomaterials Science and Engineering, vol 11. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6910-9_9

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