Effects of Hangbisan, an oriental medicine, on body weight gain in diet-induced obese (DIO) rats

This study was designed to determine possible weight loss effects of Hangbisan, an oriental medicine on Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. SD rats that were fed a high-fat diet for 6 weeks to induce obesity and subsequently fed with a basic diet containing 10%(w/w) Hangbisan or 10%(w/w) cellulose for 8 weeks. The Hangbisan fed rats demonstrated a significantly (p < 0.05) reduced weight gain compared to the cellulose fed rats as well as a reduced level of plasma cholesterol and triglycerides and an increased level of (HDL)-cholesterol. These results suggest that dietary Hangbisan has an anti-obesity effect in the high-fat diet-induced obesity (DIO) rat and therefore a potential use as an anti-obesity agent in the application of oriental medicine compounds.