The adzuki bean is a mature seed of the red bean leguminous plant, and people like to eat it because of its nutritious properties and moderate proportion of amino acids. Adzuki bean germination and the enrichment of GABA greatly improve the health effects of the adzuki bean. The effects of the GABA-rich adzuki bean on the expression of insulin-pathway-related genes and proteins in the liver of T2DM mice were studied via Western blotting and qPCR. The results showed that a GABA-rich adzuki bean diet could promote glycogen synthesis in the liver of T2DM mice, inhibit the activities of PEPCK and G-6-Pase, and significantly down-regulate the gene expression levels of PEPCK, G6PC and FOXO1 (p < 0.05) and the phosphorylation levels of FOXO1 and GSK3β. In addition, it can also up-regulate the expression of the AMPKα gene and down-regulate the expression of the SREBP1c gene to inhibit the synthesis of triglycerides and cholesterol in T2DM mice. Lipid accumulation in mice can alleviate glucose and lipid metabolism disorders and play an effective role in regulating blood glucose at liver tissue targets. This study suggested that the GABA-rich adzuki bean can improve hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetic mice by activating the IRS/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in the liver.

Obesity and overweight have increasingly posed a serious challenge to public health security. This study systematically evaluated the reversal and regulatory effects of a composite flavonoid component mimicking the composition of adzuki bean flavonoids on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity, related lipid metabolism disorders, and impaired liver function, based on lipid metabolomics and an HFD-induced obese mouse model. The results demonstrated that sustained HFD intake led to significant weight gain, increased adiposity index, dyslipidemia, and altered brown adipose tissue (BAT) cell status in mice, while also exerting adverse effects on hepatic lipid deposition and the lipid metabolic profile associated with liver fibrosis. Intervention with an adzuki bean flavonoid mimic (ABFM) effectively prevented further weight gain and ameliorated abnormal expression of serum lipid and liver function-related indicators. Furthermore, we found that ABFM alleviated HFD-induced liver damage and mitigated the whitening tendency of brown adipose tissue. Lipidomics analysis revealed that ABFM intake significantly improved abnormal hepatic lipid metabolic profiles, notably downregulating the expression levels of diacylglycerol (DG) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG), while markedly ameliorating sphingolipid metabolism disorders and ceramide (Cer) levels, which are highly associated with liver fibrosis. These findings further elucidate the mechanisms by which adzuki bean flavonoid components improve diet-induced obesity and associated liver injury, providing a theoretical basis for exploring safe and effective dietary intervention strategies based on plant flavonoids.