Elsevier

Phytochemistry

Volume 71, Issues 14–15, October 2010, Pages 1625-1641
Phytochemistry

Review
Possible anti-obesity therapeutics from nature – A review

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2010.07.011Get rights and content

Abstract

Obesity is associated with many diseases, particularly diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and heart disease. The obesity incidence has increased at an alarming rate in recent years, becoming a worldwide health problem, with incalculable social costs. Two different obesity-treatment drugs are currently on the market: orlistat, which reduces intestinal fat absorption via inhibiting pancreatic lipase; and sibutramine, an anorectic or appetite suppressant. Both drugs have hazardous side-effects, including increased blood pressure, dry mouth, constipation, headache, and insomnia. For this reason, a wide variety of natural materials have been explored for their obesity treatment potential. These are mainly complex products having several components with different chemical and pharmacological features. This review aimed to survey the literature covering natural products with anti-obesity activity and to review the scientific data, including experimental methodologies, active components, and mechanisms of action against obesity.

Graphical abstract

A wide variety of natural materials have been explored for the treatment of obesity. The objective of this review is to survey greater part of natural products with anti-obesity activity, and to review scientific data such as experimental methodology, active components and their mechanisms of action exhibiting anti-obesity activity.

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Introduction

On a global scale, obesity has reached epidemic proportions and is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability. Currently, more than one billion adults worldwide are overweight and at least 300 million of them are clinically obese (WHO, 2009).

Two different types of obesity-treatment drugs are currently available on the market (Chaput et al., 2007). One of these is orlistat (Xenical), which reduces intestinal fat absorption through inhibition of pancreatic lipase (Ballinger and Peikin, 2002, Drew et al., 2007, Hutton and Fergusson, 2004, Thurairajah et al., 2005). The other is sibutramine (Reductil), which is an anorectic, or appetite suppressant (Lean, 2001, Poston and Foreyt, 2004, Tziomalos et al., 2009). Both drugs have side-effects, including increased blood pressure, dry mouth, constipation, headache, and insomnia (de Simone and D’Addeo, 2008, Karamadoukis et al., 2009, Slovacek et al., 2008, Thurairajah et al., 2005). A number of anti-obesity drugs are currently undergoing clinical development, including centrally-acting drugs (e.g. radafaxine and oleoyl-estrone), drugs targeting peripheral episodic satiety signals (e.g. rimonabant and APD356), drugs blocking fat absorption (e.g. cetilistat and AOD9604), and human growth hormone fragments (Halford, 2006, Melnikova and Wages, 2006).

At present, because of dissatisfaction with high costs and potentially hazardous side-effects, the potential of natural products for treating obesity is under exploration, and this may be an excellent alternative strategy for developing future effective, safe anti-obesity drugs (Mayer et al., 2009, Nakayama et al., 2007, Park et al., 2005). A variety of natural products, including crude extracts and isolated compounds from plants, can induce body weight reduction and prevent diet-induced obesity. Therefore, they have been widely used in treating obesity (Han et al., 2005a, Moro and Basile, 2000, Rayalam et al., 2008).

A wealth of information indicates numerous bioactive components from nature are potentially useful in obesity treatments. A good example of such is the polyphenols. These show strong anti-obesity activity and include apigenin, genistein, and the catechins (Rayalam et al., 2008, Thielecke and Boschmann, 2009, Wolfram et al., 2006).

To date, despite the appearance of several excellent reviews of anti-obesity agents in the literature, no reviews have focused on summarizing real, natural-product data on anti-obesity activity, active compound types, and mechanisms of action. In 2000, Moro and Basile reviewed the use of certain well-known medicinal plants that had claimed to be useful in treating obesity (Moro and Basile, 2000). Five years later, Han et al., 2005a reviewed the anti-obesity effects of natural products from more diverse sources. More recently, the review of anti-obesity phytochemicals by Rayalam et al. (2008) focused on adipocyte life cycle regulation. However, these reviews do not provide updates from the literature regarding various natural products that have anti-obesity effects.

Therefore, in this review, we surveyed natural products with anti-obesity potential and reviewed the scientific data, including experimental methodologies, active components, and mechanisms of action against obesity. A growing body of evidence indicates that natural products having anti-obesity effects can be arranged into five categories based on their distinct mechanisms; they produce (1) decreased lipid absorption, (2) decreased energy intake, (3) increased energy expenditure, (4) decreased pre-adipocyte differentiation and proliferation, or (5) decreased lipogenesis and increased lipolysis. Therefore, in this review, we addressed naturally-occurring compounds possessing anti-obesity activity addressed by categorizing them per these mechanisms.

Section snippets

Lipase inhibitory effect

Among treatments for obesity, one of the most promising strategies in the effort to reduce energy intake through gastrointestinal mechanisms, without altering the central mechanisms, is the development of nutrient digestion and absorption inhibitors (Birari and Bhutani, 2007). Dietary fat is not directly absorbed by the intestine unless the fat has been subjected to the action of pancreatic lipase. Therefore, pancreatic lipase is one of the most widely studied mechanisms for determining natural

Conclusions

Anti-obesity pharmacological treatment should be administered only when considered safe and effective for obese subject. Over the past 30 years, few obesity-treatment drugs have been developed or approved. Only two drugs are currently available, and some drugs have been withdrawn from the market due to serious side-effects. Sibutramine and orlistat may cause weight loss of up to 10% when used in combination with dietary, behavioral, and exercise therapy. The need exists for anti-obesity drugs

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Mid-Career Researcher Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (Grant Number R01-2008-000-10277-0). The author also wishes to thank Ms. J.S. Lee and Ms. H.S. Hwang for their helpful literature collection and arrangements.

Jong Won Yun received his MSc degree in 1987 from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea. He was employed for six years as research scientist in CJ Cheiljedang R&D Center. The focus of his laboratory was to development of functional sweeteners such as fructooligosaccharides and palatinose from natural resources. In 1992, he started his PhD study at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Pusan National University. The focus of his PhD studies was

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    Jong Won Yun received his MSc degree in 1987 from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea. He was employed for six years as research scientist in CJ Cheiljedang R&D Center. The focus of his laboratory was to development of functional sweeteners such as fructooligosaccharides and palatinose from natural resources. In 1992, he started his PhD study at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Pusan National University. The focus of his PhD studies was production of fructooligosaccharides and isomaltooligosaccharides by several transferases. In 1995, following his PhD study, he was employed as Assistant Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Daegu University, where his work is focused on production of biomaterials with anti-diabetic and anti-obesity activity. Recently, he has studied clinical proteomics to discover anti-obesity biomarkers in response to anti-obesity drugs or medicinal compounds with anti-obesity activity. He is acting as an editor or editorial board member of several international journals including Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, and Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering. He has published 130 international papers and 54 domestic papers in the fields of functional biomaterials and proteomics.

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