Unripe banana flour (Musa cavendishii) promotes increased hypothalamic antioxidant activity, reduced caloric intake, and abdominal fat accumulation in rats on a high-fat diet.

The present study aimed to evaluate the nutritional and redox status of supplementation with unripe banana flour (Musa cavendishii) in high-fat-fed Wistar rats. Male Wistar rats were divided into the following groups for 98 days: control-lab chow; unripe banana flour (UBF)-lab chow with added unripe banana flour; high-fat (HFD)-lab chow with added lard; unripe banana flour + high-fat (UBF + HFD)-lab chow with added unripe banana flour and lard. The HFD group showed higher caloric intake, weight gain, abdominal fat accumulation, steatosis, and oxidative stress in the hypothalamus than the other groups. Conversely, the HFD + UBF group showed reduced caloric intake, weight gain, and abdominal adipose tissue accumulation compared to the HFD group. Notably, an improvement in the redox state of the hypothalamus was observed in the HFD + UBF group. However, this group showed a worsening redox state and fat accumulation in the liver. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The prevalence of obesity has increased worldwide over the past 50 years, reaching pandemic levels. It is also possible that, although it is a multifactorial disease, the main cause of obesity development is still related to a high intake of high-fat diets. Therefore, it is imperative to establish alternatives for the control and treatment of obesity. Here, we showed that unripe banana flour can improve hypothalamic antioxidant activity, reduce caloric intake, and prevent abdominal fat accumulation. These outcomes indicate the anti-obesity potential of unripe banana flour and highlight the need for future studies. However, the damage observed in the liver indicated that, at the concentrations used in the present study, its use should be carefully evaluated.

Glucose as the sole metabolic fuel: overcoming a misconception using conceptual change to teach the energy-yielding metabolism to Brazilian high school students.

A misconception regarding the human metabolism has been shown to be widespread among high school students. The students consider glucose as the sole metabolic fuel, disregarding that lipids and amino acids can be oxidized for ATP production by human cells. This misconception seems to be a consequence of formal teaching in grade and high schools. The present study reports the evaluation of a teaching strategy based on the use of a dialogic teaching methodology within a conceptual change approach to remediate that misconception. Students were stimulated to formulate hypotheses, outline experiments, and to discuss their outcomes. The results showed that students were able to reformulate their original concepts immediately after teaching. The majority of the students showed adequate learning of the topic eight months after the application of the teaching strategy, although some level of misconception recurrence was observed. The educational consequences of the teaching unit are discussed in the context of the possible reasons for its success as well as the need for similar initiatives at grade school to avoid the establishment of the misconception.