Oral polyphenol-based microbeads for obesity treatment
Excessive fat intake may lead obesity.
Food and Drug Administration-approved drug, Orlistat limits the absorption of fat; but the unabsorbed fat in the colon can cause severe side effects.
The researchers designed polyphenol-mediated fat-locking (PmFL) microbead made of green tea polyphenol, dietary fiber (alginate), and D-α-tocopherol that serve as a dynamic absorbent that excretes dietary fat derivatives through multiple molecular interaction-driven multiscale processes in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
The PmFL microbeads can capture the emulsified fat derivatives by GI pH responsive expansion, followed by multiscale sequestration processes, where demulsification and fat locking occur within the PmFL microbeads.
PmFL microbeads showed a remarkable barrier function in blocking intestinal fat absorption and also hold great promise for obesity treatment. The high-fat dieted rats orally administered PmFL microbeads showed 17.02% weight loss, accompanied by reduced adipose tissue, alleviated liver damage, and lower blood fat levels.
https://www.cell.com/cell-biomaterials/fulltext/S3050-5623(25)00010-8
