Butterfly pea flower reduces production and storage of fats/oils in cells

Butterfly pea flower extract has the following properties:

  • non-toxic, even at high concentrations when put directly onto cells in culture
  • reduces storage of fats in cells (lipogenesis)
  • enhances breakdown of triglycerides (lipolysis

Jump to the data

Why is this important ?

The World health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 2 billion adults are overweight or obese today. The data is also shocking for children, as the WHO estimates 39 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2020. With healthy food becoming less affordable or as easily accessible as fast-food, the burden on healthcare systems is ever-increasing.

We urgently require healthy and affordable ways to manage weight, diabetes, and obesity. Butterfly pea may provide a new, cost effective, and natural treatment. Butterfly pea tea can be used in conjunction with traditional weight management tools such as access to medical care, education, and exercise.

The data from this study show that butterfly pea flowers may have a role in weight management. In addition to the positive effects on hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia observed in other studies, the antioxidants present in butterfly pea flowers may also have a direct role in reducing fat storage in cells. 

In this study, scientists used cells that transform into fat cells (adipose cells). They treated these adipose cells with butterfly pea flower by adding it directly to them. This resulted in 1) reduced fat storage/generation and 2) increased breakdown of fat stores.

Butterfly pea flower extract also reduced fat-storing signals by reducing gene expression (mRNA), and activation of key proteins (phosphorylation) involved with this process such as transcription factors.

Together, the data suggest a role for butterfly pea in weight management.

The study:

Chayaratanasin, P, Caobi, A, Suparpprom, C, Saenset, S, Pasukamonset, P,  Suanpairintr, N, Barbieri, MJ, Adisakwattana, S, 2019, ‘Clitoria ternatea Flower Petal Extract Inhibits Adipogenesis and Lipid Accumulation in 3T3-L1 Preadipocytes by Downregulating Adipogenic Gene Expression’ Molecules. vol 24, no.10, 1894 Link

Type of study : in vitro (lab-based data)

fat-droplet-stain

Chayaratanasin et al. demonstrated that treatment with butterfly pea flower extract reduced the number of fat cells that stored fat. Even better still,  of the cells that still stored fat, fewer lipids were detected inside them (red stain in cells).

lipogenesis-lipolysis

Taken together, the data from these two complementary graphs show that butterfly pea flower treatment (green lines) :

a) reduced the lipid content stored in adipose cells compared with controls (in red), a process called lipogenesis

b) increased the breakdown of fats compared with control cells (in red), a process called lipolysis

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