Studies On The Mechanism of Action of Lipid Lowering Phytochemicals

According to WHO, by 2015, 2.3 billion people will be overweight of whom 700 million will be obese. Obesity is the underlying cause of morbidity and mortality of many diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Increasing incidence of obesity is a global concern. Weight maintenance is a complex process involving many pathways. Studies have shown that the proximate cause of obesity is an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Several plants and their products have been documented to have lipid-lowering and anti-obesity properties. Artocarpus lakoocha is one such plant. A.lakoocha extract inhibited enzymes of lipid biosynthesis like malic enzyme, fatty acid synthase, HMG CoA reductase, lipoprotein lipase and Diacylglycerol acyltransferase in vitro. In a rat model of nutrition - induced obesity, these enzymes were inhibited in the livers of treated rats. The inhibition was comparable to that induced by Atorvastatin. The fruit was fed to obese volunteers, serum lipid-lowering, lowering of inflammatory marker HS-CRP and obesity was observed. These results suggest that A.lakoocha can be a potential lipid-lowering and anti-obesity botanical.