Phytochemical Betacyanins Inhibits Fat Accumulation in Obesity

By Kyle J. Norton

Obesity is a medical condition characterized by excessive body fat accumulated over time. Overweight is a condition of excess body weight relative to height.

According to the Body Mass Index(BMI), a BMI between 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, while a BMI of over 30 is an indication of obesity. According to the statistic, 68% of the American population is either overweight or obese.

Believe it or not, according to the statistic provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 40 percent of adults (or 93.3 million people) are obese.

The formula of the BMI indexBMI= weight (kg)/ height (m2)

The causes of obesity are easily understood. If you regularly eat and drink more calories than your needs accompanied by physical inactivity, a lack of sleep,  over time you are ar an increased risk of overweight or obese.

Please note that certain medical conditions such as hypothyroidism, polycystic ovary syndrome, Cushing's syndrome,..., genetic preposition and the use of certain medications that can cause weight gain or water retention, such as corticosteroids, antidepressants or some seizure medications, also increases the risk of overweight and obesity.

Epidemiologically, obese people are associated with an increased risk of diseases and health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Some researchers suggested that by dietary changes, increased physical activity and behavior changes have been found to enhance weight loss in obesity.

Conventionally, in extremely obese subjects, prescription medications and weight-loss surgery may be the only options.

Betacyanins are phytochemicals in the class of red and yellow indole-derived pigments, belonging to the group of Betalains, found abundantly in beets, chard, etc.

On finding a potential compound for the prevention of fat accumulation, researchers examined the effects of food that inhibits the development of obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases.

The study included betacyanins isolated from Hylocereus undatus (white-fleshed pitaya) peel applied to high-fat-diet (HFD)-induced obese mice and compared to a low-fat diet or HFD supplemented with PPBNs for 14 weeks.

According to the tested assays, all betacyanins found in white-fleshed pitaya peel (PPBNs) reduced HFD-induced parameters associated with the obesity including body weight gain, adipose tissue hypertrophy, hepatosteatosis, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance.

Furthermore, dietary PPBNs also increased the expression levels of lipid-metabolism-related genes and decreased genes associated with glucose and lipid homeostasis.

In other words, dietary PPBNs not only protected against fat accumulation but also decreased the risk of complications of obese subjects.

Based on the finding, researchers wrote, "the protective effect of PPBNs might be associated with the induced fatty acid oxidation, decreased fatty acid biosynthesis, and alleviated FGF21 resistance".

Taken altogether, betacyanins may be considered a remedy for the prevention of obesity, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of betacyanins in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
Obesity
(1) Red pitaya betacyanins protects from diet-induced obesity, liver steatosis and insulin resistance in association with modulation of gut microbiota in mice by Song H1,2, Chu Q1, Yan F1, Yang Y1, Han W1, Zheng X. (PubMed)
(2) Purified Betacyanins from Hylocereus undatus Peel Ameliorate Obesity and Insulin Resistance in High-Fat-Diet-Fed Mice by Song H1, Chu Q1, Xu D1, Xu Y1, Zheng X. (PubMed)