Obesity is arising as a global pandemic throughout the world. Over the past few decades, obesity has tripled worldwide, creating an alarming situation. The majority of people nowadays are suffering from obesity and overweight. It affects health of people of all age groups, ethnicity, gender, and sex, and is linked to a sedentary lifestyle of people, poor eating habits, and disturbed sleeping patterns. It causes several diseases such as diabetes mellitus type 2, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, gallstones, and colon cancer. Many synthetic anti-obesity drugs such as orlistat, lorcaserin, phentermine, bupropion, and liraglutide are already available on the market. However, these drugs have side effects, including dry mouth and sleeping disorders, dizziness, blood pressure, heart rate elevation, constipation, and headache. Humans have a long and ancient history of dependency on traditional medicinal plants and their major bioactive antioxidant components, such as quercetin, anthocyanins, and ellagic acid, for treating such diseases and disorders. This review discusses the herbal approach, bioactive compounds, and their mechanism for treating obesity.

The present research signifies the anti-obesity potential of Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd. and its techno-functional properties. Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd. is a medicinal plant that belongs to the Nyctaginaceae family. Studies have reported the various bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, phenols, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, etc., in Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd., responsible for its biological properties such as antibacterial, antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antifungal, antipyretic, and anticarcinogenic. In this article, the techno-functional properties of the plant, such as tapped density, bulk density, Hausner ratio, Carr index, angle of repose, water absorption and solubility index, swelling capacity, foaming capacity, foam stability, and oil absorption capacity were discussed. The plant’s total phenolic and flavonoid content was 2.9 mg GAE/g and 12.3 mg QE/g, respectively. The plant’s antioxidant activity (89.9%) was estimated using the DPPH assay. The components of the plant powder were confirmed by FTIR analysis. Lipase (I_C50: 68.21) and amylase inhibition assay (I_C50: 60.19) significantly confirmed the anti-obesity potential of the plant. The highest glucose retention time (2.1 mg/dL) was observed at 120 min.

The potential of spent grains as a source of valuable compounds with various properties has gained attention. They are the by-product of the brewing process, typically resulting from the beer-making process. Five different mixed combinations of spent grains of barley, wheat, rice, maize and finger-millet were formulated and further analyzed and compared. Barley and wheat (BW), barley and rice (BR), barley and maize (BM), and barley and finger-millets (BF) were mixed in a ratio of 1:1 (w/w) and ground into a fine powder to study their techno-functional, phytochemical and in vitro properties. The techno-functional, phytochemical and in vitro properties of barley and maize (BM) were found to be the best choice, making it a promising candidate for applications in value-added products. The WAI (water absorption index) of BM (5.03 g/g) was the highest compared to BB (3.20 g/g), BF (3.56 g/g), BR (4.10 g/g) and BW (4.33 g/g), whereas the WSI (water solubility index) and OAC (oil absorption capacity) of BM (7.06% and 1.90 g/g, respectively) were lower than BW (7.60% and 2.24 g/g, respectively), BR (8.20% and 2.30 g/g, respectively), BF (9.67% and 2.57 g/g, respectively) and BB (10.47% and 2.70 g/g, respectively). A higher percentage of inhibition of DPPH (44.14%) and high phenolic and flavonoid contents (72.39 mg GAE/gm and 66.03 mg QE/gm, respectively) were observed in BM. It also showed higher in vitro properties like amylase and lipase inhibition assay (89.05% and 62.34%, respectively) than the other combinations. The present study provides valuable information about the differences between spent grain varieties and their combinations, with potential applications in various industries.