Pharmacy - Biochemistry

Obesity is a serious condition in which body fats are excessively accumulate in the body and
associated with several comorbidities like diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, and
osteoarthritis. Moringa olifera is a traditional herbal medicine for treatment of conditions like
arthritis, constipation, hypertension. The present study aimed to evaluate the anti-obesity and
antihypercholesterolemic effect of the aqueous extract of Moringa olifera herbal teas as Moringa
olifera alone and in combination with lemon and Mentha in a high fat diet induced obesity in
rats. Adult male rats were completely randomized in ten groups each compromising six rats. The
first group was kept on the normal rodent chow for three months but the rest of groups were kept
on a high fat diet for two months. Group number 2 represent obese group, group number 3 was
assigned as high fat diet group (HFD), group number 4 represent standard simvastatin treated
group (SD) and from group 5 to 10 treated with Moringa olifera aqueous extract, these groups
received medicine in different doses and preparations. mRNA expression of FAS was
significantly high in HFD group compared to control and significantly decreased in all treated
groups. Moringa lemon (ML) 400mg showed prominent effect compared to simvastatin groups.
Also, mRNA expression of PPAR alpha was significantly reduced in HFD compared to control
and significantly increased in all treated groups. In conclusion, study provides evidence that the
aqueous extracts of Moringa olifera and its combinations have antiobesity effect.
Keywords: obesity, moringa olifera, diabetes, simvastatin, high fat diet,
antihypercholesterolemic.