Integrative Approach of Treating Early Undernutrition with an Enriched Black Corn Chip, Study on a Murine Model

Undernutrition (UN) increases child vulnerability to illness and mortality. Caused by a low amount and/or poor quality of food intake, it impacts physical, cognitive, and social development. Modern types of food consumption have given highly processed food a higher cultural value compared to minimally processed food. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect on growth, metabolism, physical activity (PA), memory, inflammation, and toxicity of an enriched black corn chip (BC) made with endemic ingredients on post-weaned UN mice. Methods: A chip was made with a mixture of black corn, fava beans, amaranth, and nopal cactus. To probe the effects of UN, UN was induced in 3wo post-weaned male C57Bl/6j mice through a low-protein diet (LPD—50% of the regular requirement of protein) for 3w. Then, the BC was introduced to the animals’ diet (17%) for 5w; murinometric parameters were measured, as were postprandial glucose response, PA, and short-term memory. Histological analysis was conducted on the liver and kidneys to measure toxicity. Gene expression related to energy balance, thermogenesis, and inflammation was measured in adipose and hypothalamic tissues. Results: Treatment with the BC significantly improved mouse growth, even with a low protein intake, as evidenced by a significant increase in body weight, tail length, cerebral growth, memory improvement, physical activation, normalized energy expenditure (thermogenesis), and orexigenic peptides (AGRP and NPY). It decreased anorexigenic peptides (POMC), and there was no tissue toxicity. Conclusions: BC treatment, even with persistent low protein intake, is a promising strategy against UN, as it showed efficacy in correcting growth deficiency, cognitive impairment, and metabolic problems linked to treatment by adjusting energy expenditure, which led to the promotion of energy intake and regulation of thermogenesis, all by using low-cost, accessible, and endemic ingredients.