Fat-blocking microbeads made with green tea, vitamin E and seaweed could offer a new way to lose weight and a potential alternative to popular GLP-1 drugs and bariatric surgery, according to exploratory new research.
While human trials are still needed, scientists in China found that rats fed a high-fat diet lost about 17% of their body weight when given the edible microbeads. The rats also saw reduced fat tissue, alleviated liver damage and lowered blood fat levels compared to animals that did not receive the beads.
“Our work provides a basis for novel dietary strategies to combat obesity,” the Sichuan University researchers wrote in the study, published in the journal Cell Biomaterials.
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Obesity affects nearly 890 million adults globally. It’s the fourth leading cause of death, the research team noted.
“The overconsumption of dietary fat is the key contributor to obesity, associated with Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and malignant cancers,” the researchers wrote, adding that restricting dietary fat is emerging as a promising solution.
“Losing weight can help some people prevent long-term health issues like diabetes and heart disease,” Yue Wu, one of the study’s authors, said in a news release from the American Chemical Society (ACS). “Our microbeads work directly in the gut to block fat absorption in a noninvasive and gentle way.”
The team set out to develop something that aligns with how people “normally eat and live,” she added.
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Wu presented the team’s results at the ACS fall digital meeting in August.
The beads are made from green tea polyphenols – antioxidants in tea leaves – combined with vitamin E to bind to fat droplets in the gut and block their absorption. A seaweed-derived coating protects the beads from stomach acid.
The nearly flavorless beads could be integrated into everyday foods, according to the ACS, and even formed into tapioca-like balls for desserts or bubble teas.
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“Think mini-boba beads made from plant-based ingredients that soak up part of the fat in a meal right in the gut – and then leave the body naturally,” said Sichuan University professor and bioengineer Junling Guo, who led the team of PhD students behind the study.
“Our goal is to support every-day mealtime use as a gentler, potentially more affordable approach that could complement existing therapies, pending human data,” he told Fox News Digital.
Guo said that the microbeads may be especially useful for people who cannot take GLP-1 drugs or don’t respond to them and could one day be used alongside those medications, although combination use has not yet been tested.
During the 30-day experiment, rats on a diet comprised of 60% fat – far higher than the 35% to 40% typically seen in human diets – excreted more fat after eating the microbeads, but without side effects or blood sugar fluctuations.
Compared to orlistat, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved fat-blocking drug, the beads produced similar levels of fat excretion but avoided the gastrointestinal issues observed in the study.
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Orlistat can cause digestive problems because unabsorbed fat passes into and lingers in the colon. The experimental microbeads, meanwhile, appeared to curb fat and weight gain without disrupting blood sugar, digestion or energy levels.
The scientists also noted that semaglutide – the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, which are FDA-approved – lowered blood sugar in rats but caused fluctuations that could trigger hunger and lethargy, raising concerns about side effects in the animal study.
“While our study presents a proof of concept for obesity treatment using PmFL microbeads, it is exploratory and does not reach the preclinical stage,” the scientists wrote in the paper.
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“The results highlight fundamental mechanisms and potential benefits, but further research is necessary to evaluate their long-term safety, efficacy and potential for clinical translation.”
The findings should be regarded as a foundational step for subsequent research, they added.
All the components are food-grade and individually FDA-approved, the scientists said, but the microbead formulation itself has not yet been cleared by regulators.
Boston-based biotech company Novastra Therapeutics, which was founded by Guo, has partnered with researchers to scale up manufacturing of the product.
A human clinical trial is also underway in China. Early results are expected within the next year.
Original article source: Fat-blocking green tea microbeads show promise for weight loss in new study