Anti-obesity Effects of Some Plant Extracts in Rats Fed on High - Fat Diet

Abstract

Background and Aim: Obesity has reached an epidemic level all over the world with serious health consequences and costs, which led to the intervention and development of the phytochemistry technologies as new treatment techniques. The aim of the present work was to evaluate and compare the anti-obesity, the antioxidant, and the anti-inflammatory activities among some average and safe doses of natural products as bitter orange, flax seeds, and ginger in adult male albino rats fed on high fat diet. Methods: Fifty adult male albino rats were assigned into 5 groups (n=10); negative control group that received balanced normal diet, positive control group receiving high fat diet (HFD) for eight weeks, and other 3 groups fed on HFD for eight weeks and receiving daily 20 mg/kg/day of bitter orange fruit aqueous extract (standardized at 10% p- synephrine) or 250 mg/kg/day of flax seeds ethanol extract or 200 mg/kg/day of ginger rhizomes ethanol extract in the last 4 weeks. At the end of experimental period, all rats were sacrificed to obtain samples of blood, livers, and kidneys for biochemical and histopathological investigations. Results: Treatment with the herbal extracts significantly decreased the body weight, lipid profile, the inflammatory markers alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and C reactive protein (CRP), malondialdhyde (MDA), and liver enzymes which were increased by HFD. Moreover, obvious reduction and amelioration of the proliferated inflammatory infiltration, congested veins, and fatty vacuolated vesicles induced by HFD in liver and kidney tissues were induced by treatments of herbal extracts. Bitter orange revealed the highest significant anti-obesity effects while flaxseed and ginger showed respectively the highest significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities against HFD-induced changes. Conclusion: The use of these herbal extracts showed different potential protective and therapeutic effects on obese rats. Therefore, they are recommended for individuals suffering from obesity, and more investigations are suggested to evaluate the effects of combination of specific biochemical components from these plant extracts in the treatment of obesity and its associated disorders.