Reference Number: 450
Year: 2020
Link: Link to original paper
Health: Cardiometabolic diseases
Nutrition: Antioxidants | Fibre | Prebiotic
Summary
The increasing incidence of metabolic syndrome requires more functional food products with low cost and excellent effects to assist treatment. The crude extract of Moringa oleifera Lam. showed excellent hypoglycemic activity. The current study was designed to investigate the effects and mechanism of niazirin, a bioactive component from Moringa oleifera Lam. seed, on diabetic metabolic syndrome. C57BL/6J mice were treated daily with 5 mL/kg/body weight (BW) of saline, while db/db mice were similarly treated with 5 mL/kg/BW of saline, 10 and 20 mg/kg/BW of niazirin, respectively. Results indicated that niazirin could significantly reduce body weight, water and food intake, improve hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, inflammation, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, non-alcoholic fatty liver. Furthermore, niazirin improved the hepatic energy metabolism via AMPK signaling pathway. Our study provides an evidence of an edible plant product, niazirin, may help in the treatment of metabolic syndrome.
Significance of this study to the baker:
Moringa leaves are added to our botanical blends not only to boost diversity, but also because of their potential health benefits.
The Moringa oleifera (MO) tree, known as ‘drumstick tree’ or ‘miracle tree’ belongs to the Moringaceae family. Originally from the southern Himalayas (India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan) it is now also cultivated in subtropical areas of Africa, America and Asia. The tree’s flowers, pods, seeds and leaves are a very good source of nutrients.
There is a particular bioactive compound found in Moringa tree leaves called Niazirin which is shown have good antioxidant potential and may be a reason for why Moringa is associated with improved cardiovascular health (more human research needed to confirm this). Overall, Moringa has also been found to improve postprandial responses, potentially due to is level of fibre and antioxidants, behaving as a prebiotic yet studies for its link to the human microbiome are not found as yet.