Abstract

Obesity increases the risk of developing a number of diseases such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, stroke and heart attack. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of ethanolic root bark extract of Anthocleista vogelii on weight reduction in high carbohydrate diet (HCD) induced obesity in male Wistar rats. Thirty male Wistar rats were housed in three steel cages containing 10 rats each. For the period of obesity induction, Group 1 was fed with normal pellet diet (NPD), while Groups 2 and 3 were fed with HCD for 14 weeks. During the 4 weeks treatment period, Group 1 was fed with NPD, Groups 2 and 3 were fed with HCD, and only Group 3 received 500 mg/kg b.w A. vogelii extract. The ethanolic root bark extract of A. vogelii significantly decreased (P<0.05) food intake, body weight, total fat mass, adiposity index and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, but showed no significant difference (P<0.05) in body mass index, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, very low density lipoprotein cholesterol when compared with the HCD obese control. The results indicated that the ethanolic root bark extract of Anthocleista vogelii has potential to reduce weight in animals.

Key words: Anthocleista vogelii, obesity, body mass index, total fat mass, adiposity index, lipid profile, high carbohydrate diet.

Abbreviation

NPD, Normal pellet diet; HCD, high carbohydrate diet; BMI, body mass index; TC, total cholesterol; TG, triglycerides; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein cholesterol; VDL-C, very low density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C, low density lipoprotein cholesterol.