One method for counteracting obesity and its associated health problems may be in the typical produce section at a grocery store, according to a recent local study.
Researchers at Western University recently published findings that show a molecule found in sweet oranges and tangerines called nobiletin can drastically reduce obesity, thus reducing the risk of heart disease and diabetes. According to the study, this could be accomplished with the equivalent of just two and a half glasses of orange juice a day.
The findings in the study showed that when mice were fed a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet along with nobiletin, they were noticeably leaner, and had reduced levels of insulin resistance and blood fats compared to mice that were fed a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet alone.
“We‘ve shown that in mice that already have all the negative symptoms of obesity, we can use nobelitin to reverse those symptoms, and even start to regress plaque build-up in the arteries, known as atherosclerosis," said Murray Huff, a professor at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.
However, despite further testing on mice, researchers have yet to pinpoint how the nobiletin molecule produces this result.
Huff said the next step is to see if nobiletin has the same positive metabolic effects during human trials.
“Obesity and its resulting metabolic syndromes are a huge burden to our health care system, and we have very few interventions that have been shown to work effectively,” said Huff. “We need to continue this emphasis on the discovery of new therapeutics.”