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(Journal of Nutrition. 2000;130:152-157.)
© 2000 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences


Article

Caffeine, Carnitine and Choline Supplementation of Rats Decreases Body Fat and Serum Leptin Concentration as Does Exercise1 ,2

Nobuko Hongu and Dileep S. Sachan3

Department of Nutrition and Agricultural Experiment Station, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1900

3To whom correspondence should be addressed.


    ABSTRACT
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
The effect of a combination of caffeine, carnitine and choline with or without exercise on changes in body weight, fat pad mass, serum leptin concentration and metabolic indices was determined in 20 male, 7-wk-old Sprague-Dawley rats. They were given free access to a nonpurified diet without or with caffeine, carnitine and choline at concentrations of 0.1, 5 and 11.5 g/kg diet, respectively. In a 2 x 2 factorial design, one-half of each dietary group was exercised, and the other half was sedentary. Body weight and food intake of all rats were measured every day for 28 d. Rats were killed and blood and tissue samples were collected and analyzed for biochemical markers. Food intake of the groups was not different, but the body weight was significantly reduced by exercise in both dietary groups. Fat pad weights and total lipids of epididymal, inguinal and perirenal regions were significantly reduced by the supplements as well as by exercise. Regardless of exercise, supplements significantly lowered triglycerides in serum but increased levels in skeletal muscle. Serum leptin concentrations were equally lowered by supplements and exercise. Serum leptin was correlated with body weight (r = 0.55, P <= 0.01), fat pad weight (r = 0.82, P <= 0.001) and serum glucose (r = 0.51, P <= 0.05). We conclude that the indices of body fat loss due to dietary supplements were similar to those due to mild exercise, and there were no interactive effects of the two variables.


KEY WORDS: • adiposity • choline • carnitine • caffeine • leptin • exercise • rats


    INTRODUCTION
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Carnitine is a facilitator of fatty acid oxidation by virtue of its role in interorganelle translocation of fatty acids (Bremer 1997Citation ). Clinical studies have shown that carnitine supplementation improves muscle function in patients with carnitine deficiency (Brass and Hiatt 1994Citation ). Several studies suggest an increased carnitine utilization during endurance exercise in humans (Decombaz et al. 1992Citation , Lennon et al. 1983Citation ). However, there is no clear agreement on the benefits of carnitine supplementation in normal healthy individuals (Neumann 1996Citation ). Choline is a lipotropic agent (Best and Huntsman 1935Citation , Leiber et al. 1994Citation ), and its supplementation has been shown to enhance synthesis and release of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction (Buyukuysal et al. 1995Citation , Zeisel and Blusztajn 1994Citation ). It has been observed that there is a decline in plasma choline concentration in athletes after running a marathon (Conlay et al. 1992Citation ). Therefore, choline supplementation may improve acetylcholine balance and prevent decrement in physical performance. However, there are no definitive studies on the effects of choline supplementation in normal healthy people. Caffeine is used widely as a general stimulant and a fatty acid mobilizer from adipose tissues (Bellet et al. 1968Citation , Costill et al. 1978Citation , Denadai 1994Citation ). It has been hypothesized that fat-mobilizing effects of caffeine and other methylxanthines elevate blood free fatty acid concentration and spare carbohydrate stores, prolonging endurance exercise. However, this hypothesis remains controversial because of a lack of standardized experimental procedures: the type, intensity and duration of training, the dose of caffeine used and habitual use of caffeine by participants (Nehlig and Debry 1994Citation ).

Recently, we reported interactive effects of choline and carnitine in normal healthy humans and animals. Choline supplementation resulted in significant conservation of carnitine in humans and guinea pigs (Daily and Sachan 1995Citation , Dodson and Sachan 1996Citation ); however, this effect of choline was not seen in the adult rats given choline dosage similar to that given to humans and guinea pigs (Daily and Sachan 1995Citation , Rein et al. 1997Citation ). The choline supplementation promoted tissue carnitine accretion, particularly in skeletal muscle of guinea pigs (Daily and Sachan 1995Citation ) and livers of rats (Rein et al. 1997Citation ). In addition, a choline-supplemented diet decreased percentage of body fat and increased percentage of protein without significantly changing body weight or the respiratory exchange ratio in guinea pigs (Daily et al. 1998Citation ). Guinea pigs would have been a preferred animal model for their likeness to humans with regard to choline carnitine interactions, but guinea pigs are not easily made to exercise on a treadmill. So, we settled on a rat as a model with modification of dietary treatment in two ways. First, we increased the supplementary level of choline to about fivefold used in guinea pigs or humans. Second, we included caffeine as one of the supplements for its fat-mobilizing property. We rationalized that besides increasing energy demand by exercising muscle, simultaneous availability of caffeine, carnitine and choline may induce mobilization, transport and delivery of fat as the energy substrate of choice. This theoretically sound rationale required experimental evidence which is presented in this paper.

Leptin, a 16-kDa protein released from adipose tissue as a product of the obese (ob) gene (Zhang et al. 1994Citation ), is thought to play a role in the regulation of body weight, energy expenditure and food intake (Campfield et al. 1995Citation , Halaas et al. 1995Citation , Pelleymounter et al. 1995Citation ). Studies have shown that leptin circulates in proportion to body fat mass in humans (Considine et al. 1996Citation ) and rodents (Ahren et al. 1997Citation ) and reflects body lipid content in mice (Frederich et al. 1995Citation ). The data on effects of nutritional perturbations on serum leptin are beginning to accumulate. For example, serum leptin concentration falls after fasting (Boden et al. 1996Citation ) and energy restriction (Wadden et al. 1998Citation ) with relatively small decreases in body weight and fat mass. In addition, serum leptin concentrations fell following ultramarathon running in men (Landt et al. 1997Citation ) and 12 wk of aerobic exercise in women without changes in adiposity (Hickey et al. 1997Citation ). The list of nutritional factors that influence circulating leptin concentrations is small, and there are no studies on the effect of dietary supplements plus exercise on circulating serum leptin concentrations. Thus the objective of this study was to determine changes in body weight, fat pad weights, serum leptin concentrations and metabolic indices in rats fed a diet supplemented with caffeine, carnitine and choline with and without exercise.


    MATERIALS AND METHODS
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Animals and treatment.

The protocol of this study was approved by the University of Tennessee Institutional Review Board. Twenty, 7-wk-old male Sprague-Dawley rats (Harlan Sprague-Dawley, Indianapolis, IN) were housed in a room controlled for temperature (20–22°C), relative humidity (50%), and light (12-h light/dark cycle). Their initial mean body weight was 218 g. Rats had free access to a ground nonpurified diet, Harlan Teklad 22/5; protein 22%, fat 5% and fiber 3.83%, (Harlan Teklad, Madison, WI) and water. The diet was fortified with caffeine, carnitine and choline at concentrations of 0.1, 5 and 11.5 g/kg nonpurified diet, respectively, as the supplemented diet.

The endogenous concentrations of choline and carnitine in this commercial diet were 2.1 g and 30 mg/kg diet, respectively. All rats were weighed daily, and their food intake was determined daily by the difference in the weight of food containers. Daily food intakes throughout the 4-wk experimental period were used to calculate average food intake. After arrival (1 wk), the rats were randomly divided into two groups (n = 10) and assigned to the nonsupplemented or supplemented diet. Each dietary group was subdivided into exercised and nonexercised groups (n = 5).

One-half of each dietary group was exercised on a rodent treadmill (Columbus Instruments International, Columbus, OH). All rats in exercise groups were made to run on the treadmill for 10 min at 15% grade starting at wk 3. The running speed and duration were continuously increased during the course of exercise to maximize at 18 m/min for 25 min/d. The 2 x 2 factorial design was scheduled as follows: wk 1, all rats consumed the nonsupplemented diet; wk 2, one-half of the rats consumed the nonsupplemented diet and one-half did the supplemented diet; wk 3, one-half of the nonsupplemented and supplemented rats were made to exercise on a treadmill 5 d/wk; wk 4, the diet and exercise regimen continued; and wk 5, the same treatments as in wk 4.

Sample collection and assays.

At the end of the 5-wk experimental period, rats were anesthetized with methoxyflurane (Pitman-Moore, Mundelein, IL) and killed by exsanguination after cardiocentesis using 10-mL syringes fitted with 23-gauge, 1.9-cm disposable needles. The blood samples were immediately centrifuged at 2000 x g for 10 min at 4°C. Serum was removed and stored at -80°C until used for determination of glucose, triglycerides, free fatty acids and leptin concentrations. Following blood collection, regional fat pads of epididymal, perirenal and inguinal fat were quickly excised from the carcasses, weighed, rinsed with saline, blotted dry, frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C until used for triglycerides and total lipid determination. Glucose was determined by glucose oxidase method using Sigma kit no. 510 (Sigma, St. Louis, MO). Triglycerides, total lipid, nonesterified fatty acids and lactate were determined by the methods of Giegel et al. (1975)Citation , Ellefson and Caraway (1976)Citation , Novak (1965)Citation and Gutmann and Wahlefeld (1974)Citation , respectively. Serum leptin concentrations were determined using a commercial radioimmunoassay kit (Linco Research, St. Louis, MO).

Statistical analysis.

All results are presented as group means ± SEM. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA to test the effects of exercise, supplementation and their interaction using SAS (1997)Citation . The main effects of diet and exercise were tested using specific linear contrasts, as was the interaction. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated using data from all 20 rats. Statistical significance level was set at P <= 0.05.


    RESULTS
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Nonsupplemented rats consumed no caffeine, but consumed about 45 mg of choline and 0.66 mg of carnitine/d, because the nonpurified diet, Teklad 22/5, contains 2.1 g of choline and 30 mg of carnitine/kg of diet (Table 1Citation ). Supplemented rats consumed in their diets ~2.1, 105 and 240 mg/d of caffeine, carnitine and choline, respectively. The final body weight and weight gain of the exercised rats were significantly lower (P = 0.001) than those of nonexercised rats with or without supplement (Table 1)Citation . There were no significant differences in food intakes of the groups.


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Table 1. Body weight and food; caffeine, carnitine and choline intakes in exercised or nonexercised male rats with and without choline, caffeine and carnitine supplementation1

 
Fat pad weights generally were affected by exercise as well as by the supplement (Table 2Citation ). The weights of the epididymal fat pad of exercised, supplemented rats were significantly lower than their nonexercised counterparts. The weights of inguinal fat pads of exercised rats with and without supplementation were significantly lower than their paired nonexercised rats. The weights of perirenal fat pads of exercised rats were significantly lower than their nonexercised counterparts. The perirenal fat pad weights of the supplemented, nonexercised rats were lower than those of the nonexercised, nonsupplemented rats. Total fat pad weight (sum of the three) showed a pattern similar to that of the other three fat pads, particularly the inguinal fat pad weight. Although the duration and intensity of exercise were the same in the two exercised groups, total fat pad reductions due to exercise were 25% in nonsupplemented rats and 44% in supplemented rats, compared to the nonsupplemented, nonexercised rats. However, there was not a significant interaction between diet and exercise.


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Table 2. Three regional fat pads and total fat pad weights in exercised or nonexercised male rats with and without choline, caffeine and carnitine supplementation1

 
Dietary supplement and exercise independently affected total lipids of the regional fat pads (Table 3Citation ). The total lipid of epididymal and perirenal fat pads was significantly lower in exercised, supplemented rats compared to nonexercised controls, reflecting the difference in the corresponding fat pad weight (Table 2)Citation . The effects of both supplement and exercise on total lipid were remarkable in the inguinal fat pad as there was 62% less total lipid in the exercised, supplemented rats compared to the nonsupplemented, nonexercised rats. However, the interactive effects of supplement and exercise were not significant. The triglycerides of epididymal fat pads were affected by exercise; however, those of the inguinal and perirenal fat pads were not significantly affected by either supplementation or exercise. The total lipids made up ~80–90% of the fat pad weights, and 70–80% of the total lipids were triglycerides.


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Table 3. Total lipid and triglycerides of three regional fat pads in exercised and nonexercised male rats with and without choline, caffeine and carnitine supplementation1

 
Differences in serum and muscle triglycerides were produced by the supplement in exercised and nonexercised rats. Serum triglycerides were significantly lower in the supplemented rats, but their muscle triglycerides were significantly higher than in the nonsupplemented groups (Table 4Citation ). Serum leptin concentration was significantly lower in the exercised, supplemented rats compared to any other group. Supplementation and exercise did not significantly affect serum glucose, lactate or free fatty acids.


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Table 4. Effect of supplement and exercise on blood metabolites and muscle triglycerides in male rats fed the non-supplemented diet or supplemented diet with caffeine, carnitine and choline

 
There were significant correlations between body weight and fat pad weights as well as between body weight and concentrations of serum leptin and free fatty acids (Table 5Citation ). Serum leptin concentrations were correlated with serum glucose but not with food intake.


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Table 5. Correlations between body weight, three regional and total fat pad weights, food intake, blood metabolites and muscle triglycerides in exercised and nonexercised male rats with and without choline, caffeine and carnitine supplementation12

 

    DISCUSSION
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Since choline and carnitine have been used as lipotropic agents in a number of studies, we hypothesized that their combined effect on fat metabolism may be greater than each alone and may even be enhanced by exercise where energy demand is increased. Our earlier studies had shown that choline supplementation promoted carnitine conservation in both humans and guinea pigs but not in rats (Daily and Sachan 1995Citation , Dodson and Sachan 1996Citation ). This conservation of carnitine in guinea pigs resulted in accretion of carnitine in all tissues, especially skeletal muscle, where the differences were significant (Daily and Sachan 1995Citation ). The exercise regimen is difficult to impose upon guinea pigs because they do not run very well on a treadmill. Rats, on the other hand, will run on a treadmill which enhances adipose tissue turnover rate (Askew et al. 1977Citation ). However, rats do not conserve carnitine as do humans or guinea pigs at an equivalent dosage of choline (Daily and Sachan 1995Citation ). This was believed to be due to very high activity of choline oxidase in rat liver compared to that in guinea pigs or humans (Sidransky and Farber 1960Citation ). We speculated that high choline oxidase activity may be counterbalanced by high levels of choline supplementation in the rat diet. Therefore, supplementary choline level in the nonpurified diet was about fivefold endogenous levels and that used in earlier rat studies by us (Daily and Sachan 1995Citation ) and others (Rein et al. 1997Citation ). After taking into account the daily food consumption by the rats (Table 1)Citation , it is estimated that caffeine, carnitine and choline intakes were 6, 300 and 800 mg/kg of body weight. The pharmacological doses of caffeine, carnitine and choline in humans are 7–14, 40–45 and 150–200 mg/kg body weight, respectively. Thus choline and carnitine were four- to sixfold higher than usual dosage but far below the toxic dosage (LD50 of choline in rat is 3.4–6.7 g/kg body weight and none established for carnitine). It was anticipated that this amount of choline may be more than sufficient to compensate for the high activity of rat choline oxidase and therefore, may induce significant carnitine conservation. Choline supplemented at 10 g/kg diet (seven- to tenfold higher than normal) and fed for 1–42 d increased urinary excretion of choline 19-fold in rats just after 1 d of feeding the diet (Rein et al. 1997Citation ). In guinea pigs, choline supplementation (3 g choline/kg diet) over and above the normal dietary choline concentration (1.8 mg/kg), resulted in eight- to ninefold higher choline excretion in the urine. These observations indicate that supplementary choline must get into the systemic circulation before it can be filtered into urine at these high concentrations. We can only assume that enough choline escapes choline oxidase to bring about the anticipated conservation of carnitine.

The combination of choline, carnitine and caffeine superimposed with mild exercise was hypothesized to enhance oxidation of fat by skeletal muscle and as a consequence reduce the amount of body fat. Mild exercise preferentially promotes fat oxidation for meeting energy needs over and above the basal energy requirements (Romijn et al. 1993Citation ). The results of this study support this hypothesis as there was significant loss of adipose fat mass in the supplemented as well as exercised rats in 4 wk (Table 2)Citation . This is important because carnitine alone had no significant effect on perirenal fat pad weight of rats fed 0.5% carnitine-supplemented diet and trained on treadmill for 5 wk (Askew et al. 1977Citation ). Diets supplemented with carnitine alone have produced variable responses regarding substrate utilization and muscle fatigue in exercise (Brass and Hiatt 1994Citation , Decombaz et al. 1992Citation , Lennon et al. 1983Citation , Neumann 1996Citation ). Similarly, choline alone is not known to alter energy substrate utilization (Spector et al. 1995Citation ) or reduce body weight (Tsai et al. 1974Citation ). Likewise, caffeine alone has been shown to increase plasma free fatty acid concentration without altering substrate preference for oxidation in running exercise (Casal and Leon 1985Citation ). Caffeine by itself at a dosage of 200 mg, three times a day for 24 wk had no effect on body weight in obese patients. However, when combined with 20 mg of ephedrine, it caused a significant decrease in body weight (Astrup et al. 1992Citation ).

The reduction in body fat is supported by reduction in the endogenous marker of adiposity, leptin, which was significantly lower in the supplemented as well as the exercised rats (Table 4)Citation . The leptin concentrations were positively correlated with body fat (r = 0.82, P < 0.001) and body weight (r = 0.55, P < 0.01) as shown in Table 5Citation and has been seen elsewhere (Ahren et al. 1997Citation , Frederich et al. 1995Citation ). Factors other than adipose tissue mass influence leptin secretion (Havel 1998Citation ). For example, the decrease in circulating leptin concentration during energy restriction in humans is closely related to the decrease in plasma glucose (Dubuc et al. 1998Citation ). However, in the rats of our study, feed-intake was not affected by any of the treatments (Table 1)Citation , and serum concentration of leptin was positively correlated with serum glucose (r = 0.51, P < 0.05).

The differences in the concentrations of the metabolites presented in Table 4Citation suggest that supplementation favored partitioning of triglycerides from serum to skeletal muscle because there was a 33–46% lower concentration in serum and 82–90% greater level in the muscle. Increased esterification and increased permeability of muscle membranes to fatty acids are possible (Marconi et al. 1985Citation , Neumann 1996Citation ). Lower concentrations of serum glucose (13%) and free fatty acids (31%) in the supplemented, exercised group also suggest a promotion of energy substrate utilization by supplementation under the conditions of mild exercise. Mild exercise has been shown to promote preferential use of fat for energy needs over and above the basal requirements (Romijn et al. 1993Citation ).

We thought it was relevant to characterize the chemical nature of the adipose fat mass which was found to be 80–90% total lipids of which 70–80% were triglycerides (Table 3)Citation . These values are close to the upper end of the range of lipid contents of adipose tissue. Adipose tissue is, on the average, 80% fat, 18% water and 2% protein (Heymsfield et al. 1999Citation ). The protein contents of the adipose tissues were not different among the groups (data not shown).

From these data, clearly, the combination of choline, carnitine and caffeine with or without mild exercise reduces body fat, as indicated by a decrease in fat pad weights and total lipids as well as serum leptin in rats. We conclude that the dietary supplement used in this study promotes fat loss as much as does the exercise, and there is no significant interactive effect. This does not preclude reassessment of individual effects of the components of this supplement. These results may or may not be applicable to humans, and further research is necessary to determine whether similar effects would result in other species.


    FOOTNOTES
 
1 A preliminary report of this research was presented at the Experimental Biology ‘97, April 6–9, 1997, New Orleans, LA [Nobuko Hongu and Dileep S. Sachan (1997) Interactive effects of caffeine, carnitine, choline and exercise on body fat in rats. FASEB J. 11: A446 (abs.)].

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2 Supported by the Agricultural Experiment Station of The University of Tennessee.

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Manuscript received August 20, 1999. Initial review completed September 27, 1999. Revision accepted November 3, 1999.


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 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 

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