Results
Capsaicin reduces body weight of obese mice
A previous study showed that dietary capsaicin reduced obesity-induced insulin resistance in obese mice fed an HFD (17). In this
study, capsaicin cream was topically applied to the skins of mice
fed an HFD for 8 weeks. The increase of body weight seen in the
control HFD-fed mice was not observed in the 0.75% capsaicin-treated group (Figure 1a). To examine visceral fat, we measured the
weights of livers, and mesenteric and epididymal adipose tissues.
The mesenteric adipose tissue of the capsaicin-treated mice weighed
less than that of the control obese mice (Figure 1b), and was much
less enlarged than that of the control obese mice (Figure 1c).
To investigate the effect of capsaicin on the adipose tissues of mice
that are already obese, we fed mice the HFD for 7 weeks and then
treated half of them with capsaicin cream for another 7 weeks while
continuing to provide the HFD. Figure 2a shows that body weight
increased steadily in the control group whereas there was little or no
increase in body weight in the capsaicin-treated group (P