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Obesity is a global health concern associated with high morbidity and mortality. Therapeutic strategies include synthetic drugs and surgery, which may entail high costs and serious complications. Plant-based medicinal agents offer an alternative approach. A review of the studies on accessible botanical sources for the treatment of obesity is provided, which attempts to explain how these medicinal plants act to cause weight loss, and which approach is safer and more efficient. Information was gathered for the period of 1991 to 2012. Five basic mechanisms, including stimulating thermogenesis, lowering lipogenesis, enhancing lipolysis, suppressing appetite, and decreasing the absorption of lipids may be operating. Consumption of standardized medicinal plant extracts may be a safe treatment for obesity. However, some combinations of medicinal plants may result in either lower efficacy or cause unexpected side-effects., Comment: this article contains 5 pages with 2 tables

This study aims to screen the antibacterial activity of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from home-made fermented vegetables against common food borne pathogens. The antagonistic properties of these isolates against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Yersinia enterocolitica and Bacillus cereus were examined using agar well diffusion method. Four LAB namely MF6, MF10, MF13, and MF15 identified as Lactobacillus animalis, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus reuteri, respectively were effective against all selected pathogenic strains. Amongst the four isolates, MF6 exhibited the highest antibacterial activity, against all the indicator pathogens tested except Y. enterocolitic. Its activity was maximum against E.coli with a Zone of Inhibition (ZOI) ranging from 18.7 to 21.3 mm and least for Y. enterocolitica (10 \pm 1.1 mm). Isolate MF13 also showed antimicrobial property against all tested pathogens showing highest activity against Y. enterocolitica (14 \pm 1.7 mm) and least against E.coli (8 \pm 1.4 mm), which was in direct contrast to isolate MF6. Isolate MF15 showed greater activity against E.coli (12 \pm 0.8 mm) and least against S. aureus (8 \pm 1.7 mm). Least antimicrobial property was observed in isolate MF10, with a ZOI in the range of 2.5-7 mm. The degree of antimicrobial property among the isolates was in the order of MF6>MF13>MF15>MF10. Overall, the isolated LAB showed the remarkable inhibitory effect against both Gram positive and Gram negative pathogenic strains. However, the spectrum of inhibition was different for the isolates tested. These results suggest that this potent isolates could be used as a natural biopreservatives in different food products., Comment: 10 pages