*Article* **Phenolic Compounds and the Anti-Atherogenic E**ff**ect of Bee Bread in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Rats**

#### **Zaidatul Akmal Othman 1,2, Wan Syaheedah Wan Ghazali 1, Liza Noordin 1, Nurul Aiman Mohd. Yusof 3 and Mahaneem Mohamed 1,4,\***


Received: 4 December 2019; Accepted: 26 December 2019; Published: 30 December 2019

**Abstract:** This study was undertaken to determine the phenolic compounds and the anti-atherogenic effect of bee bread in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats. The presence of phenolic compounds in bee bread was determined by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. Thirty-two male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into four groups, (*n* = 8/group); i.e., Normal (N), HFD (high-fat diet), HFD + BB (high-fat diet and 0.5 g/kg/day bee bread), and HFD + O (high-fat diet and 10 mg/kg/day orlistat) groups. After 6 weeks of the experiment, rats were sacrificed. Five phenolic compounds were identified in bee bread; namely, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, kaempferol, apigenin, and isorhamnetin. Bee bread significantly reduced Lee obesity index and levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), fatty acid synthase (FAS) activity, atherogenic index, oxidised-LDL (oxLDL), and malondialdehyde (MDA), and significantly increased aortic antioxidant activities, such as those of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). Adipocyte sizes were found to be smaller in the HFD + BB group compared to the N group, and en face aortas showed an absence of atherosclerotic plaque in rats supplemented with bee bread. These changes might sugges<sup>t</sup> an anti-atherogenic effect of bee bread in HFD-induced obese rats via its antioxidant and hypocholesterolaemic properties.

**Keywords:** bee bread; obese; anti-atherogenic; phenolic compounds
