Anti-obesity Effect of Fermented Persimmon Extracts via Activation of AMP-Activated Protein Kinase

Efficacy of Probiotic Strains Lactobacillus sakei Probio65 and Lactobacillus plantarum Probio-093 in Management of Obesity: An In Vitro and In Vivo Analysis

The prevalence of obesity, characterized by an excessive accumulation of adipose tissue and adipocyte hypertrophy, presents a major public health challenge. This study investigates the therapeutic potential of two probiotic strains, Lactobacillus sakei Probio65 and Lactobacillus plantarum Probio-093, in the context of obesity. Utilizing 3T3-L1 cell-derived human adipocytes, we assessed Probio65's and Probio-093's capacity to mitigate triglyceride accumulation and influence adipocytokine production in vitro. Subsequently, an in vivo trial with male C57BL/6J mice examined the effects of both probiotic strains on adipose tissue characteristics, body weight, fat mass, and obesity-related gene expression. This study employed both live and ethanol-extracted bacterial cells. The results demonstrated significant reductions in the triglyceride deposition, body weight, and adipose tissue mass in the treated groups (p < 0.05). Furthermore, both strains modulated adipokine profiles by downregulating proinflammatory markers such as PAI-1, leptin, TNF-α, STAMP2, F4/80, resistin, and MCP-1, and upregulating the insulin-sensitive transporter GLUT4 and the anti-inflammatory adiponectin (p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that Lactobacillus sakei Probio65 and Lactobacillus plantarum Probio-093 are promising agents for microbiome-targeted anti-obesity therapies, offering the effective mitigation of obesity and improvement in adipocyte function in a murine model.

A Comprehensive Review on Anti-obesity Potential of Medicinal Plants and their Bioactive Compounds

Background:

Obesity is a complex health and global epidemic issue. It is an increasing global health challenge covering significant social and economic costs. Abnormal accumulation of fat in the body may increase the health risks including diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, cardiovascular diseases, stroke and cancer. Synthetic drugs available on the market reported to have several side effects. Therefore, the management of obesity got to involve the traditional use of medicinal plants which helps to search the new therapeutic targets and supports the research and development of anti-obesity drugs.

Objective:

This review aim to update the data and provide a comprehensive report of currently available knowledge of medicinal plants and phyto-chemical constituents reported for their anti-obesity activity.

Methodology:

An electronic search of the periodical databases like Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Scielo, Niscair, ScienceDirect, Springerlink, Wiley, SciFinder and Google Scholar with information reported the period 1991-2019, was used to retrieve published data.

Results:

A comprehensive report of the present review manuscript is an attempt to list the medicinal plants with anti-obesity activity. The review focused on plant extracts, isolated chemical compounds with their mechanism of action and their preclinical experimental model, clinical studies for further scientific research.

Conclusion:

This review is the compilation of the medicinal plants and their constituents reported for the managements of obesity. The data will fascinate the researcher to initiate further research that may lead to the drug for the management of obesity and their associated secondary complications. Several herbal plants and their respective lead constituents were also screened by preclinical In-vitro and In-vivo, clinical trials and are effective in the treatment of obesity. Therefore, there is a need to develop and screen large number of plant extracts and this approach can surely be a driving force for the discovery of anti-obesity drugs from medicinal plants.

From Diospyros kaki L. (Persimmon) Phytochemical Profile and Health Impact to New Product Perspectives and Waste Valorization

Persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.) fruit's phytochemical profile includes carotenoids, proanthocyanidins, and gallic acid among other phenolic compounds and vitamins. A huge antioxidant potential is present given this richness in antioxidant compounds. These bioactive compounds impact on health benefits. The intersection of nutrition and sustainability, the key idea behind the EAT-Lancet Commission, which could improve human health and decrease the global impact of food-related health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, bring the discussion regarding persimmon beyond the health effects from its consumption, but also on the valorization of a very perishable food that spoils quickly. A broad option of edible products with better storage stability or solutions that apply persimmon and its byproducts in the reinvention of old products or even creating new products, or with new and better packaging for the preservation of food products with postharvest technologies to preserve and extend the shelf-life of persimmon food products. Facing a global food crisis and the climate emergency, new and better day-to-day solutions are needed right now. Therefore, the use of persimmon waste has also been discussed as a good solution to produce biofuel, eco-friendly alternative reductants for fabric dyes, green plant growth regulator, biodegradable and edible films for vegetable packaging, antimicrobial activity against foodborne methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus found in retail pork, anti-Helicobacter pylori agents from pedicel extracts, and persimmon pectin-based emulsifiers to prevent lipid peroxidation, among other solutions presented in the revised literature. It has become clear that the uses for persimmon go far beyond the kitchen table and the health impact consumption demonstrated over the years. The desired sustainable transition is already in progress, however, mechanistic studies and clinical trials are essential and scaling-up is fundamental to the future.

Therapeutic Targets for Phenolic Compounds from Agro-industrial Byproducts against Obesity

BACKGROUND

Obesity is considered as a global epidemic worldwide. This disorder is associated to several health effects such as metabolic disturbances that need both prevention and treatment actions. In this sense, bioactive secondary metabolites can be obtained from cheap sources such as agro-industrial waste providing a sustainable alternative against obesity. Among these secondary metabolites, phenolic compounds present a common chemical structure core with different substitutions that provides them biological properties such as antioxidant, inflammatory, anti-aging capacities.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this review is to compile anti-obesity therapeutic targets for phenolic compounds from agro-industrial byproducts.

METHOD

Scientific information has been obtained from different databases such as Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar in order to select the available full text studies in last years.

RESULTS

This review shows that peel, seed, pomace and other byproducts from agro-industry have different effects inhibiting enzymes related to lipid or glucose metabolism and modulating biomarkers, genes and gut microbiota in animal models.

CONCLUSION

Revalorizing actions of agro-industrial byproducts in the prevention or treatment of obesity or associated disorders can be considered to develop new high value products that act on lipid, glucose and energy metabolisms, oxidative stress, inflammation, adipose tissue or gut microbiota. However, further human studies are need in order to stablish the optimal administration parameters.

A Review on Obesity Management through Natural Compounds and a Green Nanomedicine-Based Approach

Obesity is a serious health complication in almost every corner of the world. Excessive weight gain results in the onset of several other health issues such as type II diabetes, cancer, respiratory diseases, musculoskeletal disorders (especially osteoarthritis), and cardiovascular diseases. As allopathic medications and derived pharmaceuticals are partially successful in overcoming this health complication, there is an incessant need to develop new alternative anti-obesity strategies with long term efficacy and less side effects. Plants harbor secondary metabolites such as phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids and other specific compounds that have been shown to have effective anti-obesity properties. Nanoencapsulation of these secondary metabolites enhances the anti-obesity efficacy of these natural compounds due to their speculated property of target specificity and enhanced efficiency. These nanoencapsulated and naive secondary metabolites show anti-obesity properties mainly by inhibiting the lipid and carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes, suppression of adipogenesis and appetite, and enhancing energy metabolism. This review focuses on the plants and their secondary metabolites, along with their nanoencapsulation, that have anti-obesity effects, with their possible acting mechanisms, for better human health.

Amelioration of the Lipogenesis, Oxidative Stress and Apoptosis of Hepatocytes by a Novel Proteoglycan from Ganoderma lucidum

The steatosis and resultant oxidative stress and apoptosis play the important roles in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), therefore, searching for the effective drugs against NAFLD has been a hot topic. In this work, we investigated a hyperbranched proteoglycan, namely FYGL extracted from Ganoderma lucidum, inhibiting the palmitic acid (PA)-induced steatosis in HepG2 hepatocytes. FYGL compose of hydrophilic polysaccharide and lipophilic protein. Both moieties conclude the reductive residues, such as glucose and cystine, making FYGL capable of anti-oxidation. Herein, we demonstrated that FYGL can significantly inhibit the steatosis, i.e., decrease the contents of triglycerides (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) in hepatic cells on the mechanism of increasing the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), therefore inhibiting the expressions of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1) and fatty acid synthase (FASN), furthermore leading to the carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1 (CPT-1) expression increased against steatosis induced by fatty acids oxidation. Meanwhile, FYGL can alleviate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA), promote superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC). Moreover, FYGL can prevent the cells from apoptosis by regulating the apoptosis-related protein expressions and alleviating oxidative stress. Notably, FYGL could significantly recover the cells activity and inhibit lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release which were negatively induced by high concentration PA. These results demonstrated that FYGL has the potential functions to prevent the hepatocytes from lipid accumulation, oxidative stress and apoptosis, therefore against NAFLD.