A Comprehensive Review on Anti-obesity Potential of Medicinal Plants and their Bioactive Compounds

Background: Obesity is a complex health and global epidemic issue. It is an increasing global health challenge covering high social and economic costs. Abnormal accumulation of fat in the body may increase health risks, including diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and cancer. Synthetic drugs available in the market are reported to have several side effects. Therefore, the management of obesity needs to involve the traditional use of medicinal plants, which helps in searching for new therapeutic targets and supports the research and development of anti-obesity drugs. Objective: This review aimed to update the data and provide a comprehensive report on currently available knowledge regarding medicinal plants and phytochemicals constituents reported for their anti-obesity activity. Methodology: An electronic search of the periodical databases, like Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Scielo, Niscair, ScienceDirect, Springerlink, Wiley, SciFinder, and Google Scholar with information reported during 1991-2019, was made to retrieve published data. Results: This review attempts to list the medicinal plants with anti-obesity activity. It focuses on plant extracts, isolated chemical compounds, their mechanism of action, and preclinical, experimental model, and clinical studies for further scientific research. Conclusion: This review summarizes the medicinal plants and their constituents reported for the management of obesity. The data will fascinate the researcher to initiate further research that may lead to the discovery of a drug for the management of obesity and its associated secondary complications. Several herbal plants and their respective lead constituents have been screened by preclinical in-vitro and in-vivo clinical trials and were found to be effective in treating obesity. Therefore, there is a need to develop and screen a large number of plant extracts, and this approach can surely be a driving force for discovering anti-obesity drugs from medicinal plants.