Effect of the Several Herbal Medicines Mixture on BMI and Lipid Profile -The Animal Study

Mohammadzadeh, Mozhgan; Shamsizadeh, Ali; Memarzadeh, Mohammad Reza; Hassanshahi, Jalal; Kaeidi, Ayat; Khademalhosseini, Morteza; Shafiepour, Mohammad-Reza

doi:10.18502/ijdo.v16i4.17286

Volume 16, Issue 4 (12-2024) IJDO 2024, 16(4): 205-212 | Back to browse issues page

‎ 10.18502/ijdo.v16i4.17286

Mendeley

Zotero

RefWorks

Mohammadzadeh M, Shamsizadeh A, Memarzadeh M R, Hassanshahi J, Kaeidi A, Khademalhosseini M et al . Effect of the Several Herbal Medicines Mixture on BMI and Lipid Profile -The Animal Study. IJDO 2024; 16 (4) :205-212
URL: http://ijdo.ssu.ac.ir/article-1-906-en.html

Effect of the Several Herbal Medicines Mixture on BMI and Lipid Profile -The Animal Study

Mozhgan Mohammadzadeh

, Ali Shamsizadeh

, Mohammad Reza Memarzadeh

, Jalal Hassanshahi

, Ayat Kaeidi

, Morteza Khademalhosseini

, Mohammad-Reza Shafiepour ^*

Department of Internal Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran.

Abstract: (40 Views)

Objective: Obesity involves complex pathological mechanisms. Multi-herbal formulations targeting diverse pathways may provide synergistic therapeutic benefits. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-obesity effects of a standardized multi-herbal formulation (GUTAC), consisting of Glycyrrhiza glabra, Urtica dioica, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Artemisia persica and Camellia sinensis.
Materials and Methods: Obesity was induced in male Wistar rats (n= 30) via a high-fat diet (HFD) for three months. Subsequently, the rats were divided into three groups (n= 10 per group): (1) HFD alone, (2) HFD with GUTAC, and (3) standard diet (SD) with GUTAC, for an additional three months. Key parameters such as body mass index (BMI), blood biomarkers, and histopathological changes in the liver and kidney were evaluated.
Results: BMI was significantly lower in both the HFD+GUTAC and SD+GUTAC groups compared to the HFD group (P< 0.05). Notably, the SD+GUTAC group exhibited a more pronounced BMI reduction, indicating that combining GUTAC with a standard diet yields greater benefits than its combination with a high-fat diet. GUTAC treatment significantly reduced blood glucose levels (P= 0.0013), liver enzyme activity (AST and ALT), and improved lipid profiles, including total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglycerides, compared to the HFD group (all P< 0.05). Furthermore, GUTAC enhanced renal function markers (BUN and creatinine) and mitigated hepatic steatosis, as evidenced by histological analysis.
Conclusion: The standardized multi-herbal GUTAC formulation demonstrated significant anti-obesity, hypolipidemic, hepatoprotective, and renoprotective effects in a rat model. These benefits are likely mediated by the bioactive compounds’ modulation of lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and inflammatory pathways. These findings highlight GUTAC's potential as a multi-target therapeutic strategy for obesity, warranting further exploration in human clinical trials.

Keywords: obesity, herbal medicine, complementary therapies, lipid profile, herbs

Full-Text [PDF 694 kb] (11 Downloads)

Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2024/05/5 | Accepted: 2024/10/12 | Published: 2024/12/16

References

1. Haslam DW, James WP. Obesity. Lancet. 2005;366(9492):1197-209.Lancet.doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67483-1. [DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67483-1]

2. Blüher M. Obesity: global epidemiology and pathogenesis. Nature Reviews Endocrinology. 2019;15(5):288-98. [DOI:10.1038/s41574-019-0176-8]

3. Obesity [Internet]. Our World in Data.org. 2017. Available from: https://ourworldindata.org/obesity.

4. Ye J. Mechanisms of insulin resistance in obesity. Frontiers of medicine. 2013;7:14-24. [DOI:10.1007/s11684-013-0262-6]

5. Lee CJ, Sears CL, Maruthur N. Gut microbiome and its role in obesity and insulin resistance. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2020;1461(1):37-52. [DOI:10.1111/nyas.14107]

6. Wadikar DD, Premavalli KS. Appetite control and obesity. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition. 2012;52(10):949-56. [DOI:10.1080/10408398.2010.514757]

7. Frigolet ME, Gutiérrez-Aguilar R. The colors of adipose tissue. Gac Med Mex. 2020;156(2):142-9. [DOI:10.24875/GMM.20005541]

8. Timper K, Brüning JC. Hypothalamic circuits regulating appetite and energy homeostasis: pathways to obesity. Disease models & mechanisms. 2017;10(6):679-89. [DOI:10.1242/dmm.026609]

9. Izquierdo AG, Crujeiras AB, Casanueva FF, Carreira MC. Leptin, obesity, and leptin resistance: where are we 25 years later?. Nutrients. 2019;11(11):2704. [DOI:10.3390/nu11112704]

10. Baek HK, Shim H, Lim H, Shim M, Kim CK, Park SK, et al. Anti-adipogenic effect of Artemisia annua in diet-induced-obesity mice model. Journal of veterinary science. 2015;16(4):389-96. [DOI:10.4142/jvs.2015.16.4.389]

11. Peterson CT, Sharma V, Uchitel S, Denniston K, Chopra D, Mills PJ, et al. Prebiotic potential of herbal medicines used in digestive health and disease. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2018;24(7):656-65. [DOI:10.1089/acm.2017.0422]

12. Obanda DN, Ribnicky D, Yu Y, Stephens J, Cefalu WT. An extract of Urtica dioica L. mitigates obesity induced insulin resistance in mice skeletal muscle via protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). Scientific reports. 2016;6(1):22222. [DOI:10.1038/srep22222]

13. Yang CS, Zhang J, Zhang L, Huang J, Wang Y. Mechanisms of body weight reduction and metabolic syndrome alleviation by tea. Molecular nutrition & food research. 2016;60(1):160-74. [DOI:10.1002/mnfr.201500428]

14. Bae J, Kim J, Choue R, Lim H. Fennel (foeniculum vulgare) and fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graecum) tea drinking suppresses subjective short-term appetite in overweight women. Clinical nutrition research. 2015;4(3):168-74. [DOI:10.7762/cnr.2015.4.3.168]

15. Tewari D, Mocan A, Parvanov ED, Sah AN, Nabavi SM, Huminiecki L, et al. Ethnopharmacological approaches for therapy of jaundice: Part II. Highly used plant species from Acanthaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Asteraceae, Combretaceae, and Fabaceae families. Frontiers in pharmacology. 2017;8:519. [DOI:10.3389/fphar.2017.00519https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2017.00690]

16. Ezzat SM, El Bishbishy MH, Aborehab NM, Salama MM, Hasheesh A, Motaal AA, et al. Upregulation of MC4R and PPAR-α expression mediates the anti-obesity activity of Moringa oleifera Lam. in high-fat diet-induced obesity in rats. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2020;251:112541. [DOI:10.1016/j.jep.2020.112541]

17. Hajializadeh Z, Khaksari M, Najafipour H, Sanjari M, Mahani FD, Raji-Amirhasani A. Substitution of calorie restriction for protective effects of estrogen on cardiometabolic risk factors and oxidative stress in obese postmenopausal rat model. Life Sciences. 2022;294:120367. [DOI:10.1016/j.lfs.2022.120367]

18. Xiao S, Zhang Z, Chen M, Zou J, Jiang S, Qian D, et al. Xiexin Tang ameliorates dyslipidemia in high-fat diet-induced obese rats via elevating gut microbiota-derived short chain fatty acids production and adjusting energy metabolism. Journal of ethnopharmacology. 2019;241:112032. [DOI:10.1016/j.jep.2019.112032]

19. Jin Y, Shi Y, Zou Y, Miao C, Sun B, Li C. Fenugreek Prevents the Development of STZ‐Induced Diabetic Nephropathy in a Rat Model of Diabetes. Evidence‐Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2014;2014(1):259368. [DOI:10.1155/2014/259368]

20. Chen IJ, Liu CY, Chiu JP, Hsu CH. Therapeutic effect of high-dose green tea extract on weight reduction: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Clinical nutrition. 2016;35(3):592-9. [DOI:10.1016/j.clnu.2015.05.003]

21. Madak‐Erdogan Z, Gong P, Zhao YC, Xu L, Wrobel KU, Hartman JA, et al. Dietary licorice root supplementation reduces diet‐induced weight gain, lipid deposition, and hepatic steatosis in ovariectomized mice without stimulating reproductive tissues and mammary gland. Molecular nutrition & food research. 2016;60(2):369-80. [DOI:10.1002/mnfr.201500445]

22. Bagheri F, Amri J, Salehi M, Karami H, Alimoradian A, Latifi SA. Effect of Artemisia absinthium ethanolic extract on oxidative stress markers and the TLR4, S100A4, Bax and Bcl-2 genes expression in the kidney of STZ-induced diabetic rats. Hormone Molecular Biology and Clinical Investigation. 2020;41(4):20200028. [DOI:10.1515/hmbci-2020-0028]

23. Gauhar R, Hwang SL, Jeong SS, Kim JE, Song H, Park DC, et al. Heat-processed Gynostemma pentaphyllum extract improves obesity in ob/ob mice by activating AMP-activated protein kinase. Biotechnology letters. 2012;34:1607-16. [DOI:10.1007/s10529-012-0944-1]

24. Chevassus H, Gaillard JB, Farret A, Costa F, Gabillaud I, Mas E, et al. A fenugreek seed extract selectively reduces spontaneous fat intake in overweight subjects. European journal of clinical pharmacology. 2010;66:449-55. [DOI:10.1007/s00228-009-0770-0]

25. Rains TM, Agarwal S, Maki KC. Antiobesity effects of green tea catechins: a mechanistic review. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry. 2011;22(1):1-7. [DOI:10.1016/j.jnutbio.2010.06.006]

26. Ziaei R, Foshati S, Hadi A, Kermani MA, Ghavami A, Clark CC, et al. The effect of nettle (Urtica dioica) supplementation on the glycemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Phytotherapy Research. 2020;34(2):282-94. [DOI:10.1002/ptr.6535]

27. Zeng X, Ren D, Li D, Du H, Yang X. Artemisia sphaerocephala Krasch polysaccharide promotes adipose thermogenesis and decreases obesity by shaping the gut microbiota. Food & Function. 2022;13(20):10651-64. [DOI:10.1039/D2FO02257E]

28. Wang S, Li XY, Ji HF, Shen L. Modulation of gut microbiota by glycyrrhizic acid may contribute to its anti-NAFLD effect in rats fed a high-fat diet. Life Sciences. 2022;310:121110. [DOI:10.1016/j.lfs.2022.121110]

29. Jung JC, Lee YH, Kim SH, Kim KJ, Kim KM, Oh S, et al. Hepatoprotective effect of licorice, the root of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer, in alcohol-induced fatty liver disease. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2015;16:1-0. [DOI:10.1186/s12906-016-0997-0]

30. Fatima SN, Masood J. Fenugreek seeds attenuate thioacetamide induced liver damage. Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2021;34(3):933-942.

31. Joshi BC, Prakash A, Kalia AN. Hepatoprotective potential of antioxidant potent fraction from Urtica dioica Linn.(whole plant) in CCl4 challenged rats. Toxicology reports. 2015;2:1101-10. [DOI:10.1016/j.toxrep.2015.07.020]

32. Huang G, Zhu Y, Yong C, Tian F, Liu L, Wu Q, et al. Artemisia capillaris Thunb. water extract attenuates adriamycin‐induced renal injury by regulating apoptosis through the ROS/MAPK axis. Journal of Food Biochemistry. 2022;46(2):e14065. [DOI:10.1111/jfbc.14065]

33. Chen X, Sun L, Li D, Lai X, Wen S, Chen R, et al. Green tea peptides ameliorate diabetic nephropathy by inhibiting the TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway in mice. Food & Function. 2022;13(6):3258-70. [DOI:10.1039/D1FO03615G]

34. Caré W, Grenet G, Schmitt C, Michel S, Langrand J, Le Roux G, et al. Adverse effects of licorice consumed as food: an update. La Revue de medecine interne. 2023;44(9):487-94. [DOI:10.1016/j.revmed.2023.03.004]

35. Fuller S, Yu Y, Mendoza T, Ribnicky DM, Cefalu WT, Floyd ZE. Potential adverse effects of botanical supplementation in high-fat-fed female mice. Biology of sex Differences. 2018;9:1-4. [DOI:10.1186/s13293-018-0199-1]