Tackle your Obesity: Chinese scientists
have discovered the compound!
Chinese scientists have extracted
a medicinal compound from the natural herb, thunder god vine, which targets
cell metabolism and could help tackle obesity. Celastrol, extracted from
thunder god vine, and artemisinin, developed from sweet wormwood, are among
five herbal compounds listed by the scientific journal Cell to have the most
potential to treat illnesses where no cure has been discovered, such as cancer.
The discovery of artemisinin won Chinese scientist Tu Youyou a Nobel Prize in
2015. The research team led by Zhang Xiaokun, professor with the College of
Medicine at Xiamen University, found that celastrol from the thunder god vine
could clear inflamed mitochondria from cells to alleviate inflammation. Mitochondria
plays an integral role in cell death, immunity and inflammation. By affecting
inflamed mitochondria, celastrol can help control cell metabolism.
The team carried out the research
on mice, and found that celastrol could effectively control weight increases in
mice feeding on high fat food. The research paper was published in science
journal Molecular Cell on April 6. Zhang said his team would continue to
research how celastrol regulates metabolism to explore new drugs, with low
toxicity and high efficiency, to help people lose weight. His research has been
supported by the National Nature and Science Foundation and Xiamen South Sea Center.
Like sweet wormwood, thunder god vine is native to China though it also grows
in other East Asian countries. The herb has been used in traditional Chinese
medicine for treating arthritis and autoimmune diseases.
However, the whole plant is
extremely toxic. It must undergo a lot of processing to reduce toxicity before
being used in traditional medicine. In modern research, the plant has been used
in clinical trials on AIDS treatment. Its compounds have been found to have the
potential to treat joint pain and rheumatoid arthritis.
No comments:
Post a Comment