one pea on plate (Photo : Twitter)
Celastrol, a plant extract, is from the Chinese "thunder god vine." Due to a recent Harvard study, the herbal extract's function as an appetite suppressant could become the key ingredient in a powerful obesity drug.
A weight loss drug containing Celastrol could be effective due to a hormone called leptin. "Leptin" is taken from the Greek word that means "thin."
In the weight loss study, mice that received high doses of the Celastrol ate up to 80 percent less food. They also shed 45 percent of their body weight after three weeks.
Celastrol is found in tiny amounts of the thunder god vine, or Tripterygium wilfordii. However, weight loss drugs with it could be dangerous because the plant's flowers and roots contain several other compounds.
Umut Ozcan, a physician at Boston Children's Hospital, said that in the past 20 years researchers have tried to break down leptin resistance. The objective was to develop new obesity treatments.
Scientists have searched the globe for "miracle plants" that could be used in effective weight loss drugs. For example, Caralluma fimbriata is used by hungry hunters in India, and Africa's Hoodia gordonii makes people feel full before eating food, according to Empire State Tribune.
However, such plants provide less fat-burning power than the thunder god vine does. Thus, their potential as an obesity medication ingredient is lower.
The leptin hormone zaps signals to a brain that the stomach is full. Without leptin, mice and humans overeat and then become overweight.
The recent study gives a glimmer of hope that leptin can indeed be used to develop new obesity drugs. Such prescription medications could treat obesity and obesity complications, such as heart disease and type-2 diabetes, according to UPI.
In the study, researchers discovered that Celastrol's effectiveness was the greatest at reducing leptin resistance. However, Ozcan explained that the plant extract needs more research and it is not a "magic bullet."
The researchers' new study is published in the journal Cell.
