August 20, 2014
Ancient Asian herb could be used in the fight against obesity
Ginseng could be used in a new class of anti-obesity drugs that can actually improve brain function.
Neuroscientists Dr Yinghua Yu and Professor Xu-Feng Huang attracted worldwide attention earlier this year by publishing a paper on the anti-inflammatory effects of a compound found in ginseng, which has been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine.
Professor Huang said scientists around the world agree that inflammation is the pathogenic core of obesity, type 2 diabetes and other life-threatening diseases including heart disease, some types of cancer – even dementia.
“Many of us are convinced that obesity and type 2 diabetes are caused by overeating, lack of exercise and other lifestyle factors. While these are certainly risk factors, the underlying cause is not weight per se, but inflammation,” he said.
“When we put too much pressure on the body or damage it, the body responds by sending immune cells and key nutrients to the areas that need them most; a process that decreases the toxicity of various substances and assists in tissue repair. When this process gets out of whack due to lifestyle factors, low grade inflammation sets in.”
That’s where ginseng comes in.
Dr Yinghua Yu, Professor Xu-Feng Huang and PhD student Yizheng Wu, from the Centre for Translational Neuroscience at UOW, have been looking at compounds that may reduce this inflammation. In particular they are looking at triterpenes, a versatile group of biologically-active ingredients found in common food.
The researchers tested a compound, named Rb1, known to exert anti-inflammatory effects, to see whether it would help ease obesity-associated inflammation and glucose intolerance in mice fed a high-fat diet. The results showed it did.
They also found that Rb1 helped improve sensitivity to leptin, the hormone that makes us feel full.
“We believe Rb1 has potential for use as an anti-obesity therapeutic agent that modulates obesity-induced inflammation and improves central leptin sensitivity,” Professor Huang said.
Professor Xu Feng Huang (with Ginseng root) with Dr Yinghua Yu and Ms Yizhen Wu, PhD student at UOW.
“This is another case of using molecular nutrition from natural products to combat diseases which affect millions of people worldwide.”
The team has also tested a compound found in tea seeds called teasaponin, which was also found to reduce inflammation and central leptin resistance.
Dr Yu said the overarching aim of the research program at the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute is to translate these discoveries into new and improved therapeutics that can not only be used to treat obesity and diabetes, but improve brain function.
“We call it molecular nutrition and believe that these natural products may be safer than chemically-synthesised drugs.”
Dr Yu said she hopes to begin clinical trials on these compounds in the next two years.