Balsam Poplar (Populus Balsamifera), a Traditional Eastern James Bay Cree Medicine, exerts a Limited Modulation of Intestinal Lipid Homeostasis in an Animal Model of Diet-Induced Obesity

Context: Obesity and type 2 diabetes are at higher rates in aboriginal communities than in the general population. One reason for this condition is the cultural resistance of aboriginals to contemporary health care due to the cultural inadequacy of modern treatments for obesity and type 2 diabetes. In order to address this issue, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Team in Aboriginal Anti-diabetic Medicines looked at 17 plants of the traditional pharmacopeia of the Cree Nations of Eastern James Bay in Canada. Objective: The purpose of this present study is to examine the effect of Populus balsamifera on the intestinal content of various lipid species and key protein components involved in lipid metabolism. Methods: Mice were exposed to a standard diet for eight weeks, a high fat diet or high fat diet with 125 mg/kg of Populus balsamifera integrated. Aliquots of jejunal homogenates were lipid-extracted. Results: The results showed that total cholesterol content and jejunal phospholipids were not affected by the absence or the presence of Populus balsamifera extract. In the case of intestinal triglycerides, there was a tendency of increase with the 16-week feeding of a high fat diet and this trend seemed to vane with Populus balsamifera treatment. The jejunal content in fatty acids was significantly increased by the diet induce obesity treatment as compared to CHOW controls. Populus balsamifera treatment significantly reduced intestinal fatty acid content back towards the values observed in CHOW controls. Discussion and Conclusion: This further strengthens the potential of balsam poplar extracts to be useful in the context of the high prevalence of obesity in Indigenous populations.