Abstract
Pancreatic lipase plays a key role in the digestion and absorption of lipids, inhibition of Pancreatic Lipase (PL) is considered as a new approach to obesity treatment. The objective of the present study was to find PL inhibitors from natural food sources. Eighteen natural food products sampled from local supermarkets in Zhuhai were tested for PL inhibitory activity using a copper-soap photometric method. Among the samples tested, the crude extracts from mangosteen pericarp, lemon pulp, celery, cucumber and dry longan were found to be able to suppress the PL activity to different extents, while dry red chili, fresh green chili and dry clove exhibited a promotion effect on the PL. Shiitake mushroom, green bell pepper, lemon peel and spices (ginger, oregano leaf, bay leaf, cinnamon and dry tangerine) showed no significant influence either on the inhibition or promotion. The crude extract of mangosteen pericarp was further fractioned to trace active fractions. It was found that the n-butanol fraction was the major contributor to the PL-inhibitory effect of mangosteen pericarp and the inhibition rate was 43.9% at the concentration of 1 mg/mL, the IC 50 value was 0.918 mg/mL. Mangosteen pericarp is worthy of utilization as functional food constituents for the prevention and treatment of obesity.
Highlights
Obesity results from an imbalance involving excessive calorie consumption and/or inadequate physical activity
The correlation between the sample concentration and the effects on pancreatic lipase activity was significant (p
It was found that many natural food products had the lipase-inhibitory property, especially mangosteen pericarp
Summary
Obesity results from an imbalance involving excessive calorie consumption and/or inadequate physical activity. It is a complex health issue involving a variety of factors including metabolism, behavior, environment, genetics, etc. According to statistics from WHO (2011), the prevalence of obesity (BMI≥30) was 4% in China, while it was only 2.9% in 1997 (Wang et al, 2001; Ministry of Health et al, 2002). These data indicate that obesity has turned to a serious public health crisis in China. As the fundamental reason of obesity is energy imbalance, many biomedical researches aim to establish an appropriate regulation of energy homeostasis
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