TITLE:
Effect of Grains of Paradise (GP) Extract Intake on Obesity and Sympathetic Nerve Activity
AUTHORS:
Hiroyuki Hattori, Kosei Yamauchi, Siaw Onwona-Agyeman, Tohru Mitsunaga
KEYWORDS:
Anti-Obesity Effect, Grains of Paradise, Aframomum melegueta, Vanilloid, BAT SNA
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.8 No.2,
January
19,
2017
ABSTRACT: The methanol extract of grains of paradise (GP), the
seed of Aframomum melegueta,
which is distributed throughout West Africa, was administered during an animal
breeding test. The extract suppressed body weight gain and decreased the weight
of adipose tissues in breeding mice, with a greater effect on mice fed a
high-fat diet (HFD) than on those fed a normal diet (ND). Other significant
effects of GP intake included increased serum triglyceride (TG) concentration
and reduced hepatic total cholesterol (TC) and TG concentrations. GP intake
markedly prevented fat accumulation and improved hepatic lipid metabolism in
HFD-fed mice. In addition, GP extract at a dosage of 5 mg/kg body weight decreased
sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) in brown adipose tissue (BAT), while
capsaicin, a major component of chili pepper, activated BAT SNA. This suggested
that GP exerts a potential anti-obesity effect by a different mechanism from
that of capsaicin.