Evidence of anti-obesity effects of the pomegranate leaf extract in high-fat diet induced obese mice

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2007-06, Vol.31 (6), p.1023-1029
• Main Authors: Lei, F, Zhang, X.N, Wang, W, Xing, D.M, Xie, W.D, Su, H, Du, L.J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Absorption; Acids; animal models; Animals; antiobesity properties; Appetite; Appetite - drug effects; Biological and medical sciences; blood glucose; blood lipids; body fat; Body weight; Cardiovascular disease; cholesteremic effect; Cholesterol; Control; Diet; dietary fat; Dietary Fats - administration & dosage; Dietary Fats - pharmacokinetics; dietary supplements; Disease Models, Animal; dosage; Emulsions; Emulsions - administration & dosage; energy balance; energy intake; Epidemiology; Experiments; feces; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Females; food intake; fruit crops; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Glucose; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; High density lipoprotein; high fat diet; Hyperlipidemia; Hyperlipidemias - complications; Hyperlipidemias - drug therapy; Internal Medicine; Intestines - metabolism; Laboratory animals; leaves; Lipase - metabolism; Lipids; Male; Materia medica, Vegetable; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Mice; Mice, Inbred ICR; Obesity; Obesity - complications; Obesity - drug therapy; original-article; Pancreas - enzymology; Pharmaceutical sciences; Physiological aspects; Phytotherapy - methods; Plant extracts; Plant Extracts - therapeutic use; Plant Leaves; Pomegranate; pomegranates; Public Health; Punica granatum; Punicaceae; Tannic acid; triacylglycerol lipase; triacylglycerols; Triglycerides - blood; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Weight control
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0803502

Objective: To investigate the anti-obesity effects of the pomegranate leaf extract (PLE) in a mouse model of high-fat diet induced obesity and hyperlipidemia. Design: For the anti-obesity experiment, male and female ICR mice were fed with a high-fat diet to induce obesity. When the weight of the high-fat diet group was 20% higher than the normal diet group, the animals were treated with 400 or 800 mg/kg/day of PLE for 5 weeks. Body weight and daily food intake were measured regularly during the experimental period. The various adipose pads were weighed and serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), glucose and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured after 5 weeks, treatment with PLE. In the fat absorption experiment, both the normal and obese mice were given 0.5 ml lipid emulsion and PLE at a dose of 800 mg/kg at the same time. Serial serum TG levels were measured at times 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 h after the treatment. TGs in fecal excretions were measured after the mice were orally given a lipid emulsion. Effects of PLE and its isolated compounds (ellagic acid and tannic acid) on pancreatic lipase activity were examined in vitro. Results: The PLE-treated groups showed a significant decrease in body weight, energy intake and various adipose pad weight percents and serum, TC, TG, glucose levels and TC/HDL-C ratio after 5 weeks treatment. Furthermore, PLE significantly attenuated the raising of the serum TG level and inhibited the intestinal fat absorption in mice given a fat emulsion orally. PLE showed a significant difference in decreasing the appetite of obese mice fed a high-fat diet, but showed no effect in mice fed a normal diet. Conclusion: PLE can inhibit the development of obesity and hyperlipidemia in high-fat diet induced obese mice. The effects appear to be partly mediated by inhibiting the pancreatic lipase activity and suppressing energy intake. PLE may be a novel appetite suppressant that only affects obesity owing to a high-fat diet.