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01.06.2022

FAS inhibitor Tamarindus indica slows the growth of adipose tissues

A daily intake of three quarters to one and a half grams of extract of the fruits of Tamarindus indica may help to break down fat reserves. This is what an animal study that Malaysian scientists published in the Journal of Natural Medicines suggests.

Study
Pharmacologists from Universiti Putra Malaysia specialized in herbal drugs experimented with rats for 10 weeks. Some of the rats were given standard feed and remained slim [NC], others were given feed containing extra fat and sugar [PC]. The rats in the latter group became fat.

In addition, there were three groups of rats that, in addition to fattening feed, also had a water-based extract of the pulp of Tamarindus indica. Each of these three groups of rats received a different dose.

If the rats in the lightest dose group [TIE 5 mg/kg] had been adult humans, they would have received approximately 150 milligrams of extract daily. The human equivalent of the highest dose in this animal study [TIE 50 mg/kg] was approximately one and a half grams of extract per day.

Results
The rats that received the extract gained weight less quickly than the rats in the PC group. The higher the dose, the greater the anti-obesity effect of the extract.

Click on the tables below for a larger version.

If you look at the effect on body fat, the middle and highest dose of extract has a significant effect.

Mechanism
After 10 weeks, the activity of the enzyme fatty acid synthase in the rats that had been given Tamarindus indica was lower than in the other rats. This enzyme is involved in the storage of energy from food in fat. The researchers suspect that this effect is the mechanism of action of Tamarindus indica.

Human study
The animal study we discuss in this post was published in 2012. Eight years later, in 2020, a human study appeared in which overweight and obese subjects were given 20 grams of Tamarindus indica pulp every day for 6 weeks. [Int J Prev Med. 2020 Feb 17;11:24.]

Nothing came of that trial. Perhaps people (sigh) react differently to the bioactive substances in Tamarindus indica than rodents, the researchers write in the publication from 2020. Or perhaps those substances have no effect if you ingest them in the form of fruit pulp.

The latter is not such a strange thought at all. The fruits of the tamarind contain quite a lot of carbohydrates.

Source:
J Nat Med. 2012 Apr;66(2):333-42.

More:
How Tamarindus indica seeds may increase testosterone levels in men 27.05.2022

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