Benbaibeche Hassiba, Boumehira Ali Zineddine, Khan Naim Akhtar
Department of Natural and Life Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Algiers 1 Benyoucef Benkhedda, Algiers, Algeria.
Laboratoire de Recherche de Technologie Alimentaire et Nutrition Humaine - LRTANH, Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique - ENSA, LRTANH, Algiers, Algeria.
Front Nutr. 2025 Jun 26;12:1614947. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1614947. eCollection 2025.
Obesity is a burning public health problem that affects both children and adult population all over the world. The incidence of obesity will increase in the coming years due to the urbanization of societies, which has led to unbalanced food intake and lack of physical activity among individuals. The efficacy of pharmaceutical interventions is limited, and a large number of drugs are known to trigger side effects, leading to their removal from the market. The use of natural products that exert least significant side effects can be a good alternative to prevent and manage obesity and its associated complications. These natural products include polyphenols, carotenoids and alkaloids that are recognized for their extensive range of biomedical applications and have been in practice for several decades. Administering low-to-moderate doses can yield a number of health benefits; thereby, enhancing their utility in clinical settings. Nevertheless, their direct application poses challenges due to several issues such as low bioavailability, scalability, environmental impact, clinical inconsistency, and toxicity at high doses. This review seeks to examine and identify the effects of some natural bioactive compounds (NBCs) in the management of obesity by targeting pathophysiological pathways, discuss the challenges associated with the use of NBCs including issues of bioavailability, dosage, toxicity and analysis of the efficacy of polyphenols in different models. It is necessary of address challenges associated with the use of NBCs by developing formulation strategies, establishing a safe concentration margin, employing humanized models to enhance translatability to clinical applications, optimizing dosage and harmonizing guidelines. The review also focuses on some conclusive studies demonstrating the potential anti-obesity effects of the most studied bioactive compounds , , and in clinical human trials through the regulation of appetite, adipogenesis, inflammation, thermogenesis and energy expenditure and gut microbiome.
肥胖是一个亟待解决的公共卫生问题，影响着全球的儿童和成人。由于社会城市化，未来几年肥胖发病率将会上升，城市化导致个体饮食摄入不均衡以及缺乏体育活动。药物干预的效果有限，而且已知大量药物会引发副作用，导致它们被撤出市场。使用副作用最小的天然产物可能是预防和管理肥胖及其相关并发症的一个不错选择。这些天然产物包括多酚、类胡萝卜素和生物碱，它们因其广泛的生物医学应用而闻名，并且已经应用了几十年。服用低至中等剂量可带来诸多健康益处，从而提高它们在临床环境中的效用。然而，由于一些问题，如低生物利用度、可扩展性、环境影响、临床不一致性以及高剂量时的毒性，它们的直接应用面临挑战。本综述旨在通过针对病理生理途径来研究和确定一些天然生物活性化合物（NBCs）在肥胖管理中的作用，讨论与使用NBCs相关的挑战，包括生物利用度、剂量、毒性问题以及多酚在不同模型中的功效分析。有必要通过制定制剂策略、确定安全浓度范围、采用人性化模型以提高向临床应用的可转化性、优化剂量以及统一指南来应对与使用NBCs相关的挑战。本综述还关注一些确凿的研究，这些研究通过调节食欲、脂肪生成、炎症、产热和能量消耗以及肠道微生物群，在临床人体试验中证明了研究最多的生物活性化合物 、 和 的潜在抗肥胖作用。
