foodconsumer.org: Turmeric extract may fight obesity

Turmeric extract may fight obesity
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admin on 05/21/2009 02:44:00
 
Wednesday May 20, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- Extracts of turmeric, a member of
the ginger family, may have a potential for preventing obesity.
Feeding lab mice curcumin, the major polyphenol found in turmeric, reduces
weight gain and suppresses fat tissue in mice, say researchers at Tufts
University. Even while ingesting a high-fat diet, the mice supplemented with
curcumin kept their weight down.
“Our findings suggest that dietary curcumin may have a potential benefit in
preventing obesity,” wrote researchers.
“Weight gain is the result of the growth and expansion of fat tissue, which
cannot happen unless new blood vessels form, a process known as angiogenesis,”
said senior author Dr. Mohsen Meydani, director of the Vascular Biology Lab at
the Human Nutrition Center on Aging at Tufts. “Based on our data, curcumin
appears to suppress angiogenic activity in the fat tissue of mice fed high fat
diets.”
Although research looks promising, say the authors, don’t expect a magic pill
to appear on supermarket shelves anytime soon.
“It is important to note,” said Meydani, “we don’t know whether these
results can be replicated in humans because, to our knowledge, no studies have
been done.”
In addition to its use as a spice and pigment, turmeric has been used in India
for medicinal purposes for centuries, according to the Linus Pauling Institute.
Evidence that curcumin may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties has
renewed scientific interest in its potential to prevent and treat disease, says
the Institute’s website.
In the Tufts study, Meydani and colleagues studied mice fed high fat diets for
12 weeks. The high fat diet of the first group was supplemented with curcumin,
while the second group was given none. While both groups ate the same amount of
food, mice on the curcumin diet did not gain as much weight as the mice not
given the extract.
“Curcumin appeared to be responsible for total lower body fat in the group
that received supplementation,” said Meydani. “In those mice, we observed a
suppression of microvessel density in fat tissue, a sign of less blood vessel
growth and thus less expansion of fat.”
In addition, Meydani said those mice also showed lower blood cholesterol levels
and lower fat in the liver.
The study, which appears in the May 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, also
notes similar results in cell cultures. Meydani said further studies in this
area are needed.
“The mechanism or mechanisms by which curcumin appears to affect fat tissue
must be investigated in a randomized, clinical trial involving humans,” he
said.
(By Sheilah Downey, and edited by Heather Kelley)