Pharmacy - Pharmacognosy

Obesity is a serious disease, means specifically to have an abnormal high proportion of fat, It is a
common complex, multifactorial dependent and largely preventable disease. This metabolic
disease results from lack of physical activity, excessive eating, gall stone, frequency of
pregnancy, physiological factors or it may be inherited. If it left untreated it may lead to serious
complications such as cardiovascular, lung diseases, arthritis and cancer. Nowadays people tend
to replace conventional methods of treatment including drugs and surgeries with herbal medicine
due to its effective cost and reduced side effects. One of the effective herbal plants is Moringa
oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae).The aim of this study is to conduct a phytochemical investigation
of aqueous extracts of M. oleifera herbal teas as M. oleifera alone, M. oleifera with lemon peels
and M. oleifera with Mentha leaves. In addition to evaluate their anti-obesity and
antihypercholesterolemic activities in a high fat diet induced obesity model in rats.
Chromatographic analyses using LC-ESI-MS-MS apparatus revealed that the common major
compounds found in M. oleifera alone, M. oleifera with lemon peels and M. oleifera with
Mentha leaves extracts were Quercetin , Spiraeoside and L-Phenylalanine. This in vivo study
was tested using daily oral doses of 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg for 1 month and compared to
Simvastatin. All extracts possessed a good antiobesity activity.