Hooker chive reduces the negative effects of a high-fat diet

Hooker chive (Allium hookeri), which is widely cultivated and used as a vegetable and medicine in Asia, has been found to contain anti-obesity properties. In a study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, researchers found that hooker chive leaves may help reduce the negative effects of a high fat diet and obesity.

• Researchers from Dongduk Women’s University and Chosun University in South Korea assessed the effects of a leaf extract of hooker chive on obesity by feeding mice with a high fat diet.
• For the study, they randomly divided mice into four groups: a normal-diet group, a high fat diet group, a high fat diet group orally treated them with 200 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of hooker chive leaf extract, and a high fat diet group treated with 400 mg/kg of hooker chive leaf extract.
• The treatment was given once a day for four weeks.
• The researchers found that high fat fed mice treated with both doses of hooker chive leaf extract had significantly lower body weight gain and organ tissue weights compared to the group that did not receive the treatment.
• The hooker chive leaf extract groups also had significantly lower levels of triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and the atherogenic index.
• The treatment groups also experienced reductions in mRNA levels of liver fatty acid synthase and lipoprotein lipase, unlike the high fat diet group.
• In addition, the treatment of hooker chive leaf extract significantly reduced the size of the epididymal adipose tissue.

The findings of the study indicated that consumption of hooker chive hives leaf may help reduce the negative effects of high fat diets.

To read more stories on foods that combat the side effects of high-fat diets, visit Veggie.news today.

Journal Reference:

Park S, No K, Lee J. ANTI-OBESITY EFFECT OF ALLIUM HOOKERI LEAF EXTRACT IN HIGH-FAT DIET-FED MICE. Journal of Medicinal Food. 1 March 2018; 21(3). DOI: 10.1089/jmf.2017.3962