11.29.08
Chinese Herbs and Herbal Tablets for the Treatment of Obesity
Information on Chinese Medicine for Weight Loss:
* Chinese Diet Recipes for Healthy Weigh Loss
* Chinese Herbal Recipes for Weight Loss in Different Age Groups
* Personalized Chinese Herbal Remedies for Weight Loss in Different Types of Obesity
* Classical and Patent Chinese Herbal Recipes for Weight Loss
* Chinese Herbal Recipes for Obesity-Related Diseases
Hypocrellin A (HA) is a natural compound. It is a perylene quinonoid pigment extracted from the Chinese medicinal fungus Hypocrella bambuase. It can be used for weight loss and for healing obesity-related diabetes.
Researchers explored the inhibitory effect of hypocrellin A on protein kinase C (PKC) enzyme activity in insulin target tissues of obese rats (Qu et al., 2003). They found that hypocrellin A could significantly inhibit the activity of the PKC enzyme from liver and soleus skeletal muscle, and the influence was dose-dependent.
Their study also showed that the natural compound, hypocrellin A, could selectively inhibit certain PKC isoforms. This interesting study suggests that hypocrellin A may help treat the diseases through working on the PKC pathway. This mechanism may have potentials in adjusting the abnormalities of glucose and lipid metabolism during insulin resistant and diabetic states.
Additional investigations would be helpful to indentify the most susceptible PKC isoforms to HA. Such identification may even be meaningful for establishing personalized solution for the treatment of obesity.
Some other studies investigated the effects of herbal tablets. For example, researchers studied the effects of the Yishoujiangzhi tablet among 130 cases of hyperlipidemia (Guan and Zhao, 1995). The herbal tablet contains herbs including Radix Polygori Multiflori, Rhizoma Polygonati, Fructus Lycii, Crataegus Pinnatifida, and Cassia Tora. They found that the herbal tablet had an effective rate of 87.0% in reducing serum cholesterol and 80.8% in reducing triglyceride.
Another kind of herbal tablet, which is called “lipid lowering and fat restraining tablet (LLFR tablet)” has been found to have good effects among 64 cases of obesity. Those obese patients also had hypertension, hyperlipidemia and paramenia (Chen, 1995).
The above examples suggest that Chinese herbal products including herbal tablets can be useful for weight loss. In addition, they can also helpful for healing obesity complicated with other diseases including diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.
References:
Chen, M. (1995). “Observation of curative effect of lipid lowering and fat restraining tablets on complicated obesity.” J Tradit Chin Med 15(4): 252-5.
Guan, Y. and S. Zhao (1995). “Yishou jiangzhi (de-blood-lipid) tablets in the treatment of hyperlipemia.” J Tradit Chin Med 15(3): 178-9.
Qu, X., L. Dang, et al. (2003). “Inhibitory effect of hypocrellin A on protein kinase C in liver and skeletal muscle of obese Zucker rats.” Am J Chin Med 31(6): 871-8.
