Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Nov 3;24(21):15929.
doi: 10.3390/ijms242115929.

Natural Chalcones for the Management of Obesity Disease

Maria Maisto  1 , Adua Marzocchi  1 , Niloufar Keivani  1 , Vincenzo Piccolo  1 , Vincenzo Summa  1 , Gian Carlo Tenore  1
Affiliations
Review

Natural Chalcones for the Management of Obesity Disease

Maria Maisto et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

In the last decade, the incidence of obesity has increased dramatically worldwide, reaching a dangerous pandemic spread. This condition has serious public health implications as it significantly increases the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, hypertension, heart attack, and stroke. The treatment of obesity is therefore the greatest health challenge of our time. Conventional therapeutic treatment of obesity is based on the use of various synthetic molecules belonging to the class of appetite suppressants, lipase inhibitors, hormones, metabolic regulators, and inhibitors of intestinal peptide receptors. The long-term use of these molecules is generally limited by various side effects and tolerance. For this reason, the search for natural alternatives to treat obesity is a current research goal. This review therefore examined the anti-obesity potential of natural chalcones based on available evidence from in vitro and animal studies. In particular, the results of the main in vitro studies describing the principal molecular therapeutic targets and the mechanism of action of the different chalcones investigated were described. In addition, the results of the most relevant animal studies were reported. Undoubtedly, future clinical studies are urgently needed to confirm and validate the potential of natural chalcones in the clinical prophylaxis of obesity.

Keywords: adipocyte differentiation; anti-obesity; browning process; lipid accumulation; natural chalcones.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of the main natural chalcones with anti-obesity potential.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Blüher M. Obesity: Global Epidemiology and Pathogenesis. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 2019;15:288–298. doi: 10.1038/s41574-019-0176-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Venkatakrishnan K., Chiu H.F., Wang C.K. Extensive Review of Popular Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals against Obesity and Its Related Complications with a Special Focus on Randomized Clinical Trials. Food Funct. 2019;10:2313–2329. doi: 10.1039/C9FO00293F. - DOI - PubMed
    1. WHO . Consideration of the Evidence on Childhood Obesity for the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity: Report of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Science and Evidence for Ending Childhood Obesity. Volume 219 World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2016.
    1. Ricci S., Pinto F., Auletta A., Giordano A., Giovane A., Settembre G., Boccellino M., Boffo S., Di Carlo A., Di Domenico M. The Enigmatic Role of Matrix Metalloproteinases in Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Implications and Nutraceutical Aspects. J. Cell. Biochem. 2019;120:6813–6819. doi: 10.1002/jcb.26905. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boccellino M., D’Angelo S. Anti-Obesity Effects of Polyphenol Intake: Current Status and Future Possibilities. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020;21:5642. doi: 10.3390/ijms21165642. - DOI - PMC - PubMed