Does Monk Fruit Extrat Have Anti-obesity Effects?

According to a 2014 WHO report, more than 1.9 billion adults worldwide are overweight and more than 60 million are obese. Obesity is an important risk factor for many chronic non-communicable diseases, especially type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and various cancers. The rapid increase in obesity worldwide is partly due to excessive consumption of added sugar. Therefore, limiting sugar or sweetener intake is thought to prevent obesity-related diseases. However, sweet-eating is a biological instinct of various organisms, including humans, so it is of more practical significance to find a safer sweetener that can replace sucrose.

Luo Han Guo is a unique plant in China and is widely used to treat colds and sore throat. Its main bioactive ingredient, Mogrosides/Monk Fruit Extrat, has the same sweetness as the widely used artificial sweetener aspartame. Unlike aspartame, mogroside is low in calories, non-toxic and has various biological functions such as anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory. So does mogroside have anti-obesity effects?

Mogroside is a non-sugar substance that does not cause the body's blood sugar to rise after consumption. It does not cause the body's blood sugar to rise due to glucose intake. Therefore, it can effectively prevent and treat collective subcutaneous lipid synthesis. By promoting metabolism, it prevents subcutaneous fat accumulates, thereby achieving the purpose of reducing fat and losing weight. Monk Fruit Extrat can correct the remodeling of intestinal flora caused by high-fat diet, which is also one of its anti-obesity mechanisms.

Studies have shown that mogroside extract can counteract the recruitment of inflammatory macrophages induced by high-fat diet, thereby reducing the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and thereby improving insulin resistance. Mogroside has certain anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. It can inhibit the inflammatory response and reduce the symptoms of tissue inflammation. In addition, it can combat the growth and reproduction of some bacteria and pathogenic microorganisms, helping to prevent and treat infectious diseases.

Studies have confirmed that oral administration of mogroside to mice can significantly inhibit the increase in blood sugar caused by polysaccharides in food. In addition, mogroside has an inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase activity in a dose-dependent manner, indicating that mogroside can improve blood glucose level by inhibiting food glucose conversion and increasing postprandial insulin level. Studies have shown that mogroside can inhibit α-glucosidase activity at both 200mg/kg and 100mg/kg, and the inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase activity is significantly different compared to that in diabetic model mice (P <0.05). The reduction of α-glucosidase activity helps slow down the decomposition of carbohydrates, regulates sugar metabolism, and thereby inhibits the rapid rise in blood sugar after meals, and has an anti-hyperglycemia effect.

Compared with aspartame, mogroside extract reduces weight gain, insulin resistance, and fat accumulation in obese people. Mogroside can also inhibit the infiltration of macrophages in adipose tissue, thereby reducing the expression of pro-inflammatory factors in adipose tissue. In addition, supplementing mogroside can inhibit the remodeling of intestinal flora caused by high-fat diet and is a promising natural sweetener for preventing metabolic diseases. As a new type of low-calorie, non-sugar sweetener, mogroside has been widely used in food, food additives and health products in recent years. In 1992, the U.S. FDA approved mogroside as a sweetener to be added to food. In 1996, China followed suit and approved mogroside as a sugar substitute for patients with obesity and diabetes, and approved it to partially or fully replace sucrose in health products. Currently, countries such as the United States, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore allow mogroside to be used as a food additive.