Figure 1.

Astaxanthin (AX) improved the metabolic status in high‐fat‐diet (HFD) C57BL/6J mice. (A) Body weights of C57BL/6J mice fed HFD alone (HFD group, n = 10) or HFD supplemented with AX (HFD+AX group, n = 10). Six‐week‐old male mice were fed HFD for 24 weeks. (B) Average daily food intake in the early (2–4 weeks) and late (20–24 weeks) experimental period (n = 10 in each group). (C,D) Changes in the blood levels of glucose (C), insulin (D) in the AX‐treated HFD mice compared with control HFD and NC mice (n = 8 per group). (E) Changes in serum total triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol in the AX‐treated HFD and NC mice compared with non‐AX‐treated HFD and NC mice (n = 5‐8 per group). (F) Changes of the blood pressure in the AX‐treated HFD and NC mice compared with non‐AX‐treated HFD and NC mice (n = 6 per group). All values are presented as the means ± S.E.M. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ns; non‐significant. (HFD vs. HFD+AX) (NC vs. NC+AX). Statistical tests were performed as follows: (A) two‐way repeated‐measures ANOVA, (B,E,F) Student's t test, and (C,D) two‐way repeated‐measures ANOVA.