Anti-obesity and hypolipidemic effects of ethanolic extract from Alpinia officinarum Hance (Zingiberaceae) in rats fed high-fat diet.

To investigate the anti-obesity and hypolipidemic effects of Alpinia officinarum ethanolic extract (AOE) for the first time, anti-obesity models in vivo were used. Ten male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed normal control diet (NC); other groups of rats were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) with or without different proportions of AOE (AOE-1, 3%; AOE-2, 5%) for 6 weeks to examine feed intake, body and adipose tissue weight, serum total cholesterol (Total-C), triacylglycerol (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and leptin levels, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotranferase activities, hepatic Total-C and TG levels, and the pathological changes in liver and epididymal adipose tissues. Interestingly, feed intakes among the experimental groups were not significantly different. Body weight gains were significantly lowered in the AOE-1 and AOE-2 groups compared with the HFD group (P < .05) and near to the level of the NC group. AOE also improved the lipid profile in serum and the pathological changes in liver and adipose tissue and decreased the relative weights of epididymal and perirenal white adipose tissues. They improved lipid profile by lowering serum Total-C, TG, and LDL-C concentrations, leptin content, and the atherogenic index compared with the HFD group. The HDL-C concentration and the ratio of HDL-C/Total-C significantly increased compared with those of the HFD group. The serum ALT activity of the AOE-2 group was notably lower than that of the HFD group. Our data suggest that AOE can be considered as an anti-obesity agent that is effective for suppressing body weight gain and decreasing lipid profile.