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Cardiovascular diseases are the greatest cause of death globally and are frequently associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome, a condition including visceral obesity, hypertension, elevated triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol and hyperglycaemia. Several medicinal plants, including spices, are used in Cameroon as herbal medicines and are traditionally employed for the treatment of several ailments such as diabetes and related diseases. In this study, we chemically characterized eleven Cameroonian spice extracts and evaluated their effects on some enzyme activities relevant to carbohydrate and lipid digestion and cardio-metabolic diseases. Hydroethanolic spice extracts were characterized by GC-MS analysis and screened for their ability to modulate the activity of α-glucosidase, α-amylase, pancreatic lipase, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). Among the spice extracts tested, those from Xylopia parviflora showed the widest inhibitory spectrum, with a relevant effect on all enzyme activities. Dichrostachys glomerata and Aframomum citratum extracts were more selective. The selected and strong activity of some plants, such as that of Aframomum citratum on pancreatic lipase and that of Xylopia aethiopica on ACE, suggests their specific use in obesity and hypertension, respectively. Chemical analysis indicated that for some spice extracts such as Xylopia parviflora and Aframomum citratum their secondary metabolites (chlorogenic acid, pimaric acid, and catechin and its derivatives) could potentially justify the biological properties observed. Our findings clearly show significant inhibition of cardio-metabolic enzymes by hydroethanolic Cameroonian spice extracts, suggesting the potential usefulness of nutraceuticals derived from these plants to develop novel management strategies for obesity and diabetes complications.

Metabolic syndrome includes a cluster of risk factors for many pathological conditions, including hyperglycemia, abdominal obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. Adansonia digitata L. (also known as baobab) is used in traditional African Medicine and recent studies showed that it improves the metabolism of carbohydrates and lipids. The aim of this study is to investigate the mechanisms of action associated with the beneficial effects of extracts from the edible parts of baobab (fruit pulp, leaves, raw and toasted seeds), evaluating their inhibitory activity against: alpha-amylase, alpha-glucosidase, angiotensin-converting enzyme, 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase, and pancreatic lipase. Baobab fruit pulp and leaf extracts resulted to be the most active ones and were then tested on the differentiation process of SW-872 human liposarcoma cells to mature adipocytes. The addition of these latter extracts did not affect triglyceride accumulation, indicating a neutral impact on this parameter. The findings here reported help to explain the growing amount of evidence on the biological properties of baobab and provide suggestions about their use in food and nutraceutical fields.