mozhgan mohammadzadeh

Obesity involves complex pathological mechanisms. Multi-herbal formulations targeting diverse pathways may provide synergistic therapeutic benefits. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-obesity effects of a standardized multi-herbal formulation (GUTAC), consisting of Glycyrrhiza glabra, Urtica dioica, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Artemisia persica and Camellia sinensis.

Obesity was induced in male Wistar rats (n= 30) via a high-fat diet (HFD) for three months. Subsequently, the rats were divided into three groups (n= 10 per group): (1) HFD alone, (2) HFD with GUTAC, and (3) standard diet (SD) with GUTAC, for an additional three months. Key parameters such as body mass index (BMI), blood biomarkers, and histopathological changes in the liver and kidney were evaluated.

BMI was significantly lower in both the HFD+GUTAC and SD+GUTAC groups compared to the HFD group (P< 0.05). Notably, the SD+GUTAC group exhibited a more pronounced BMI reduction, indicating that combining GUTAC with a standard diet yields greater benefits than its combination with a high-fat diet. GUTAC treatment significantly reduced blood glucose levels (P= 0.0013), liver enzyme activity (AST and ALT), and improved lipid profiles, including total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglycerides, compared to the HFD group (all P< 0.05). Furthermore, GUTAC enhanced renal function markers (BUN and creatinine) and mitigated hepatic steatosis, as evidenced by histological analysis.

The standardized multi-herbal GUTAC formulation demonstrated significant anti-obesity, hypolipidemic, hepatoprotective, and renoprotective effects in a rat model. These benefits are likely mediated by the bioactive compounds’ modulation of lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and inflammatory pathways. These findings highlight GUTAC's potential as a multi-target therapeutic strategy for obesity, warranting further exploration in human clinical trials.

In this study, an experimentally efficient and green-scalable procedure was designed using a sustainable surfactant to extract betaine from the beet waste (molasses) of sugar industry. This procedure was extended based upon the cloud point extraction (CPE) technique. An optimization framework was developed using the response surface methodology (RSM) to achieve an optimal value for the factors affecting the extraction efficiency of the experimental procedure. The main operational factors were surfactant concentrations, electrolyte concentration, pH, and the incubation temperature. Under the measured and optimal conditions, an extraction efficiency of as high as 88% was obtained for the betaine recovery. The polyethylene glycol (PEG) was used as a food grade surfactant that is a renewable substance approved by the U.S. food and drug administration (FDA) used in the food and drink industry. In the last step, the extracted betaine was freeze-dried at -56 °C for 16 h under 0.5 bar ambient pressure. The results revealed that, the final betaine powder product can be directly used as a supplement in livestock feed supply since PEG is an edible surfactant. Thus, the proposed experimental procedure for betaine extraction from molasses is regarded as a scalable, cost-effective, sustainable and eco-friendly approach.