The Potential of Lamiaceae Herbs for Mitigation of Overweight, Obesity, and Fatty Liver: Studies and Perspectives

Numerous plants, plant extracts, and plant-derived compounds are being explored for their beneficial effects against overweight and liver diseases. Obesity is associated with the increased prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), becoming the most common liver disease in Western countries. Obesity and NAFLD are closely associated with many other metabolic alternations such as insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular diseases. Many herbs of the Lamiaceae family are widely employed as food and spices in the Mediterranean area, but also in folk medicine, and their use for the management of metabolic disorders is well documented. Hereby, we summarized the scientific results of the medicinal and nutraceutical potential of plants from the Lamiaceae family for prevention and mitigation of overweight and fatty liver. The evidence indicates that Lamiaceae plants may be a cost-effective source of nutraceuticals and/or phytochemicals to be used in the management of metabolic-related conditions such as obesity and NAFLD. PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and SciFinder were accessed to collect data on traditional medicinal plants, compounds derived from plants, their reported anti-obesity mechanisms, and therapeutic targets

Influence of Simulated In Vitro Gastrointestinal Digestion on the Phenolic Profile, Antioxidant, and Biological Activity of Thymbra spicata L. Extracts

Plants or plant extracts are widely investigated for preventing/counteracting several chronic disorders. The oral route is the most common route for nutraceutical and drug administration. Currently, it is still unclear as to whether and how the pattern of phenolic compounds (PCs) found in the plants as well as their bioactivity could be modified during the gastrointestinal transit. Recent studies have revealed antioxidant and anti-steatotic properties of Thymbra spicata. Here, we investigated the possible loss of phytochemicals that occurs throughout the sequential steps of a simulated in vitro gastrointestinal (GI) digestion of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of aerial parts of T. spicata. Crude, digested, and dialyzed extracts were characterized in terms of their phenolic profile and biological activities. Total contents of carbohydrates, proteins, PCs, flavonoids, and hydroxycinnamic acids were quantified. The changes in the PC profile and in bioactive compounds upon the simulated GI digestion were monitored by HPLC–MS/MS analysis. The antioxidant activity was measured by different spectrophotometric assays, and the antiproliferative potential was assessed by using three representative human cancer cell lines. We observed that the simulated GI digestion reduced the phytochemical contents in both aqueous and ethanolic T. spicata extracts and modified the PC profile. However, T. spicata extracts improved their antioxidant potential after digestion, while a partial reduction in the antiproliferative activity was observed for the ethanolic extract. Therefore, our results could provide a scientific basis for the employment of T. spicata extract as valuable nutraceutical