Gallic acid glycerol ester promotes weight-loss in rats

Lifestyle-related diseases arise from obesity in 30 - 60% of cases. In recent years, food functions controlling the nutritional physiology of lipids have been a focus of disease prevention. Animal feeding experiments have revealed that esters made from gallic acid (GA) and (-)-epigallo-catechin (EGC) or linoleyl alcohol are more effective in weight-loss promotion and metabolic syndrome management than are intact GA and EGC. In this study, an ester (DOGGA) was chemically synthesized from GA and 1,2-dioleoyl glycerol and its effect was compared to that of octyl gallate (OG) and GA in male Wistar rats fed a powdered standard diet containing 7% frying oil for 12 weeks. Results revealed remarkably low body weight gains and food efficiency ratios in the DOGGA group, and the effects of OG were less pronounced than those of DOGGA. The GA group showed no difference from the control group. In addition, fecal lipid content in the DOGGA group was statistically higher than that in the control group, although organ weights and serum biochemical analyses did not differ between the groups. In conclusion, the data suggested that DOGGA promoted weight-loss more effectively than OG and GA did and that the alcohol moiety of gallate is not necessarily EGC and linoleyl alcohol.