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Ergogenic property is the ability to enhance capacity for physical activities through efficient production of energy and is potentially beneficial in weight management for the obese. In this study, ergogenic property of Morinda citrifolia leaf's extract (MCL) was evaluated using AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity and high fat diet-induced obese rats. Findings from the study showed that MCL demonstrated ergogenic activity via enhancement of AMPK activity using L6 skeletal muscle cell line. Interestingly, the result also revealed that rats treated with the intermediate dosage of MCL experienced the lowest % weight gain. The rats fed the highest dose of 200 mg/kg BW MCL demonstrated the longest swimming time of approximately three times that of green tea and caffeine-fed rats. The highest dose fed rats were also found to have lower glucose and lactate levels, suggesting that energy metabolism was more effective in these rats. In addition, lactate dehydrogenase and creatinine kinase activities, the muscle injury indicators, were found to be the lowest in rats fed the highest MCL dose. The same effect was not seen in rats fed either caffeine or green tea, indicating that MCL treatment is may be protective of the rats' muscles. It was also shown that MCL consisted of various flavonoids with epicatechin, catechin, and quercetin that may be responsible for the effects measured. In conclusion, improvements were seen in rats fed MCL in terms of weight management, endurance capacity, energy metabolism, and muscle injury parameters. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Results of the study revealed that Morinda citrifolia leaf has great potential to be used as functional ingredient in the development of designer food/drink as ergogenic aid for both obese and non-obese individuals. Morinda citrifolia leaf could help in the weight management of obese people and enhance endurance capacity and energy metabolism in active individuals.

Objectives. Optimizing glycemic control is crucial to prevent type 2 diabetes related complications.Cosmos caudatusis reported to have promising effect in improving plasma blood glucose in an animal model. However, its impact on human remains ambiguous. This study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness ofC. caudatuson glycemic status in patients with type 2 diabetes.Materials and Methods. In this randomized controlled trial with two-arm parallel-group design, a total of 101 subjects with type 2 diabetes were randomly allocated to diabetic-ulam or diabetic controls for eight weeks. Subjects in diabetic-ulam group consumed 15 g ofC. caudatusdaily for eight weeks while diabetic controls abstained from takingC. caudatus.Both groups received the standard lifestyle advice.Results. After 8 weeks of supplementation,C. caudatussignificantly reduced serum insulin (−1.16 versus +3.91), reduced HOMA-IR (−1.09 versus +1.34), and increased QUICKI (+0.05 versus −0.03) in diabetic-ulam group compared with the diabetic controls. HbA1C level was improved although it is not statistically significant (−0.76% versus −0.37%).C. caudatuswas safe to consume.Conclusions.C. caudatussupplementation significantly improves insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The stone fish (Actinopyga lecanora) ethanolic and methanolic tissue extracts were investigated for total phenolic contents (TPCs) as well as antioxidant activity using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. Both extracts showed low amount of phenolics (20.33 to 17.03 mg of gallic acid equivalents/100 g dried sample) and moderate antioxidant activity (39% to 34% DPPH•radical scavenging activity and 23.95 to 22.30 mmol/100 mL FeSO4FRAP value). Enzymatic proteolysis was carried out in order to improve the antioxidant activity using six commercially available proteases under their optimum conditions. The results revealed that the highest increase in antioxidant activity up to 85% was obtained for papain-generated proteolysate, followed by alcalase (77%), trypsin (75%), pepsin (68%), bromelain (68%), and flavourzyme (50%) as measured by DPPH•radical scavenging activity, whilst for the FRAP value, the highest increase in the antioxidant activity up to 39.2 mmol/100 mL FeSO4was obtained for alcalase-generated proteolysate, followed by papain (29.5 mmol/100 mL FeSO4), trypsin (23.2 mmol/100 mL FeSO4), flavourzyme (24.7 mmol/100 mL FeSO4), bromelain (22.9 mmol/100 mL FeSO4), and pepsin (20.8 mmol/100 mL FeSO4). It is obvious that proteolysis of stone fish tissue by proteolytic enzymes can considerably enhance its antioxidant activity.

Obesity and obesity-related complications are on the increase both in the developed and developing world. Since existing pharmaceuticals fail to come up with long-term solutions to address this issue, there is an ever-pressing need to find and develop new drugs and alternatives. Natural products, particularly medicinal plants, are believed to harbor potential antiobesity agents that can act through various mechanisms either by preventing weight gain or promoting weight loss amongst others. The inhibition of key lipid and carbohydrate hydrolyzing and metabolizing enzymes, disruption of adipogenesis, and modulation of its factors or appetite suppression are some of the plethora of targeted approaches to probe the antiobesity potential of medicinal plants. A new technology such as metabolomics, which deals with the study of the whole metabolome, has been identified to be a promising technique to probe the progression of diseases, elucidate their pathologies, and assess the effects of natural health products on certain pathological conditions. This has been applied to drug research, bone health, and to a limited extent to obesity research. This paper thus endeavors to give an overview of those plants, which have been reported to have antiobesity effects and highlight the potential and relevance of metabolomics in obesity research.

Thermal inactivation kinetics for the purified membrane-bound polyphenol oxidases (mPPOs) and peroxidases (mPODs) isolated from Metroxylon sagu were analyzed. Each isoenzyme was treated at different time-temperature combinations in the range of 0-70min and 20-70C. Thermal inactivation rates constant (k) at 70C for mPOD-I (72.9×10 -3/min) and mPOD-II (97.9×10 -3/min) were lower than that of mPPO-I (379.7×10 -3/min) and mPPO-II (138.1×10 -3/min). The activation energy for inactivation of mPPO-I (32.94kcal/mol) and mPPO-II (40.34kcal/mol) was lower compared with mPOD-I (45.77kcal/mol) and mPOD-II (40.62kcal/mol). The enthalpy values for mPOD-I (45.08kcal/mol) and mPOD-II (39.94kcal/mol) were higher than those of mPPOs (mPPO-I, 32.26kcal/mol; mPPO-II, 39.66kcal/mol). This result implies that both mPOD-I and mPOD-II are more thermostable.

The effect of Morinda citrifolia fruit (MCFE), Momordica charantia (MCE) and Centella asiatica (CAE) extracts on lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity, proliferation and differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes was investigated. The inhibitory effect of the extracts on LPL activity was determined in vitro. The extent of cell proliferation was determined utilizing 3-(4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and the degree of differentiation was measured by Oil Red O staining assay. Extracts were analyzed for total phenolic compounds and flavonoids utilizing Folin-Ciocalteu assay and high-performance liquid chromatography, respectively. Results showed that, at 1mg/mL, MCFE demonstrated the highest inhibitory effect (21.4±2.3%), compared to the other extracts tested. On the other hand, MCE demonstrated the highest inhibitory effect on both proliferation and differentiation of preadipocytes (LC 50of 1.6mg/L). LC 50 refers to the concentration of extracts (mg/mL) to cause a 50% reduction in viable cells. Results also revealed that all extracts consisted of high concentration of phenolic compounds, with catechin and epicatechin predominantly present in all three extracts, that maybe responsible for the activities measured.

The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide, with high fat diet (HFD) as one of the main contributing factors. Obesity increases the predisposition to other diseases such as diabetes through various metabolic pathways. Limited availability of antiobesity drugs and the popularity of complementary medicine have encouraged research in finding phytochemical strategies to this multifaceted disease. HFD induced obese Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with an extract ofMorinda citrifoliaL. leaves (MLE 60). After 9 weeks of treatment, positive effects were observed on adiposity, fecal fat content, plasma lipids, and insulin and leptin levels. The inducement of obesity and treatment with MLE 60 on metabolic alterations were then further elucidated using a1H NMR based metabolomics approach. Discriminating metabolites involved were products of various metabolic pathways, including glucose metabolism and TCA cycle (lactate, 2-oxoglutarate, citrate, succinate, pyruvate, and acetate), amino acid metabolism (alanine, 2-hydroxybutyrate), choline metabolism (betaine), creatinine metabolism (creatinine), and gut microbiome metabolism (hippurate, phenylacetylglycine, dimethylamine, and trigonelline). Treatment with MLE 60 resulted in significant improvement in the metabolic perturbations caused obesity as demonstrated by the proximity of the treated group to the normal group in the OPLS-DA score plot and the change in trajectory movement of the diseased group towards the healthy group upon treatment.