Potential Anti-obesity and Lipid Lowering Natural Products: A Review

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to Professor Yoshinori Asakawa for his 65 th birthday. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults overweight-at least 300 million of them clinically obese. In Ayurveda, obesity is called 'medoroga'. The detailed features and treatments of the disease have been described in an old Ayurvedic text, Charak and Sushrut Samhita. There are some native plants that are commonly used for the treatment of obesity in Ayurveda. Unfortunately, only few medications are available in the market, with side effects and unacceptable efficacy. With the current view that botanical drugs can be developed faster and more cheaply than conventional single entity pharmaceuticals, the review mainly focuses on the rationality of their use with appropriate literature data support.

Secondary Metabolites, Dietary Fiber and Conjugated Fatty Acids as Functional Food Ingredients against Overweight and Obesity

“…Considering their activities and good bioavailabilities, functional foods enriched with extracts or plants containing polyphenols appear to be good idea in fight against overweight [98,99].…”

Wild Mediterranean Dietary Plants as Inhibitors of Pancreatic Lipase

“…At present, the potential of natural products for the treatment of obesity is still largely unexplored and might be an excellent alternative strategy for the development of safe and effective antiobesity drugs (Bhutani et al , ). Over the counter remedies for obesity, based on nutritional supplements, are extremely popular; however, although such treatments are widely used, none has yet been convincingly demonstrated to be safe and effective.…”

In vitro inhibition of lipase, α‐amylase, α‐glucosidase, and angiotensin‐converting enzyme by defatted rice bran extracts of red‐pericarp rice mutant

“…Lipase is defined as glycerol ester hydrolase that catalyzes the hydrolysis of tri‐, di‐, and monoacylglycerols to be absorbed by the human body. By inhibiting the function of this enzyme, obesity may be prevented (Bhutani et al., ; Sergent et al., ). Certain phytochemicals, particularly condensed polyphenolics, have been implicated in the inactivation of human pancreatic lipase (Thomas et al., ).…”

“…Medications can facilitate weight loss in obese persons through diet control. Dietary fat is absorbed by the intestine when it has been subjected to the action of pancreatic lipases, which hydrolyze triacylglycerols to monoacylglycerols and fatty acids (Bhutani et al., ). Thus, the inhibition of pancreatic lipase could be a major approach for preventing obesity.…”