As of 2022, one in every eight people around the world lives with obesity. Previous research shows that obesity can raise a person’s risk for several health concerns, including type 2 diabetes. It has been well established that obesity is a leading pathogenic factor for developing type 2 diabetes, and it is also a major obstacle for effective metabolic control in many patients with type 2 diabetes.
However, lifestyle modifications and public health measures apparently have very limited impact on the rising prevalence of obesity, and available obesity and diabetes pharmacotherapy may not be effective long term, difficult in sustaining weight loss maintenance, expensive, or carries long-term safety risks. In addition, existing treatments for obesity and diabetes may not work for everyone. Therefore, developing new, cheaper treatments, particularly using natural products either as a primary or secondary adjuvant treatment can provide more options and may improve outcomes for a wider range of patients.Â
Liu and his team used a mouse model to conduct their study, which began by identifying natural compounds that affect L-cells, which contain the metabolic hormones PYY and GLP-1 that are released when eating. When these hormones are released, they signal the body to stop eating and help control blood sugar levels.Â
Researchers identified elenolic acid that is naturally found in olives as a compound that can cause the release of the PYY and GLP-1 hormones into the gut.Elenolic acid is a natural compound found in olives and olive oil,” Liu explained. “It’s part of a larger group of substances called polyphenols. Elenolic acid is naturally produced during the maturation process of olive from breaking down oleuropein, the most abundant polyphenolic compound in olive and olive leaf extract-based dietary supplement.Â
When obese mice with diabetes were given a dose of oral elenolic acid, scientists reported significant improvements in their overall metabolic health compared to the obese control mice.Â
After four to five weeks of receiving elenolic acid, researchers found that obese mice with diabetes experienced a 10.7% reduction in obesity. This is a healthy effect of elenolic acid as it also increased muscle weight, reversed diet-induced fatty liver disease, and improved liver function. Fundamentally, oral intake of elenolic acid once a day led to increased secretion of some metabolic hormones from the gut, called GLP-1, PYY, and GIP, which may work together to restrict access calorie intake during feeding.
It’s been known that there are certain compounds in foods that are helpful for lots of conditions like diabetes, obesity, (and) high blood pressure. The thing is trying to identify these and apply them to humans. These studies were done in mice that were genetically selected to have diabetes or obesity, so things are obviously going to be different in humans. So, the next step would be to try to apply this to human studies.Â
Ali said it is important for researchers to continue to find new ways of treating obesity and diabetes because at least right now there’s no one perfect way to treat every patient. Everybody responds differently to medications; everybody’s genetic makeup is different, so the more options we have to help people, the better. And one day they may find the key that may make it applicable to a larger number of people. The combination of varying types of saturated, mono-unsaturated, and poly-unsaturated fatty acids in olives provides a unique nutrient profile. Due to (their) high fat content, mouthfeel, and often savory palatability (i.e. salt, seasonings, oil, herbs) olives are satiating — in other words, can provide a feeling of satisfaction.
The interaction of the fatty acid components of the olive within the cells, and therefore, interaction with appetite and insulin receptors has been previously identified with (the) delivery of olive leaf extract in humans as well due to the identified polyphenols, oleuropein, and hydroxytyrosol. While people can get small amounts of elenolic acid from consuming olives, the concentration from olive oil or olives alone won’t likely match the amount of elenolic acid used in the study. The researchers are now working to explore the mechanisms further to determine the safety of concentrated elenolic acid for human clinical trials in the future.
