The study, which will be presented at the American Chemical
Society in Philadelphia next August, showed that the compounds in
stone fruits could be a weapon against "metabolic syndrome," in
which obesity and inflammation lead to serious health issues,
according to Dr. Luis Cisneros-Zevallos, AgriLife Research food
scientist.
"In recent years obesity has become a major concern in society
due to the health problems associated to it," said
Cisneros-Zevallos, who also is an associate professor at Texas
A&M University. "In the U.S., statistics show that around 30
percent of the population is overweight or obese, and these cases
are increasing every year in alarming numbers."
While he acknowledged that lifestyle, genetic predisposition and
diet play a major role in one's tendency toward obesity, "the major
concern about obesity is the associated disease known as metabolic
syndrome.
"Our studies have shown that stone fruits -- peaches, plums and
nectarines -- have bioactive compounds that can potentially fight
the syndrome," Cisneros-Zevallos said. "Our work indicates that
phenolic compounds present in these fruits have anti-obesity,
anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic properties in different cell
lines and may also reduce the oxidation of bad cholesterol LDL
which is associated to cardiovascular disease."
What is unique to these fruits, he said, is that their mixture
of the bioactive compounds work simultaneously within the different
components of the disease.
"Our work shows that the four major phenolic groups --
anthocyanins, clorogenic acids, quercetin derivatives and catechins
-- work on different cells -- fat cells, macrophages and vascular
endothelial cells," he explained. "They modulate different
expressions of genes and proteins depending on the type of
compound.
"However, at the same time, all of them are working
simultaneously in different fronts against the components of the
disease, including obesity, inflammation, diabetes and
cardiovascular disease," he explained.
Cisneros-Zevallos said this is believed to be the first time
that "bioactive compounds of a fruit have been shown to potentially
work in different fronts against a disease."
"Each of these stone fruits contain similar phenolic groups but
in differing proportions so all of them are a good source of health
promoting compounds and may complement each other," he said, adding
that his team plans to continue studying the role of each type of
compound on the molecular mechanisms and confirm the work with mice
studies.