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The Effectiveness of Nigella sativa and Ginger as Appetite Suppressants: An Experimental Study on Healthy Wistar Rats [Response to Letter]
Authors Al Asoom L , Alassaf MA, AlSulaiman NS, Boumarah DN, Almubireek AM, Alkaltham GK, Alhawaj HA, Alkhamis T , Rafique N , Alsunni A , Latif R , Alsaif S, Almohazey D , AbdulAzeez S , Borgio JF
Received 30 October 2023
Accepted for publication 7 November 2023
Published 20 November 2023 Volume 2023:19 Pages 753—754
Lubna Al Asoom,1 Maha A Alassaf,2 Najd S AlSulaiman,3 Dhuha N Boumarah,4 Aldana M Almubireek,2 Gaeda K Alkaltham,2 Hussain A Alhawaj,5 Taleb Alkhamis,5 Nazish Rafique,1 Ahmed Alsunni,1 Rabia Latif,1 Seham Alsaif,1 Dana Almohazey,6 Sayed AbdulAzeez,7 J Francis Borgio7
1Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 2King Fahd Hospital of the University, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Internal Medicine, King Fahd Hospital of the University, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Surgery, King Fahd Hospital of the University, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 5Animal House, Environmental Health Department, Institute for Research and Medical Consultation, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 6Department of Stem Cell Research, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 7Department of Genetic Research, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Correspondence: Lubna Al Asoom, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, P.O Box 2004, Dammam, 31541, Saudi Arabia, Tel +966505846344, Email [email protected]
View the original paper by Dr Al Asoom and colleagues
This is in response to the Letter to the Editor
Dear editor
We would like to thank the authors of the Letter to Editor in regard to our article entitled “The Effectiveness of Nigella sativa and Ginger as Appetite Suppressants: An Experimental Study on Healthy Wistar Rats’ Vascular Health and Risk Management. 2023;19:1–11” for their valuable comments and would like to clarify the following points.
Nigella sativa and ginger are well known traditionally as weight-lowering agents. Several experimental and clinical trials were conducted in order to navigate scientific evidence for the effect of these two herbs on body weight and appetite. Multiple systematic reviews and meta-analysis support the weight-lowering effect of these two natural products.1,2 However, solid evidence for the mechanism of this effect was not sufficiently investigated. Therefore, we aimed in our study to investigate the mechanism of the weight-lowering and/or appetite suppressant effects of these two herbs.3 Accordingly, we opted to choose an in vivo study with normal biological system to allow us to identify the response of multiple hormones and peptides involved in the appetite control which act as excitatory or inhibitory signals to the neurons of hunger and satiety centres of the hypothalamus.
On the other hand, this study was designed based on an observation found in our previous work. We previously studied the effect of two months' administration of Nigella sativa on the heart structure and electrophysiology, and unintentionally we observed a reduction of body weight of all treated rats.4,5 The rats used for that study were normal healthy with body weight 250–350 g. Therefore, we planned to reproduce the weight reduction effect using the same experimental animal as well as the same dose, preparation and duration of Nigella sativa and explore its physiological mechanisms. Simultaneously, we were keen to adhere to the guiding principles of the 3Rs (Replace, Reduce, and Refinement). Thus, we elected to go with the minimum number of animals in each group taking into consideration the risk of missing few animals during the course of the study.
Despite all, we appreciate the recommendations of the authors of the Letter to Editor in regard to the utilization of obese animals and we will consider it in our future work.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this communication.
References
1. Ebrahimzadeh Attari V, Malek Mahdavi A, Javadivala Z, Mahluji S, Zununi Vahed S, Ostadrahimi A. A systematic review of the anti-obesity and weight lowering effect of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and its mechanisms of action. Phytother Res. 2018;32(4):577–585. doi:10.1002/ptr.5986
2. Al Asoom L. Is Nigella sativa an effective bodyweight lowering agent and a mitigator of obesity risk? A literature review. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2022;18:495–505. doi:10.2147/VHRM.S373702
3. Al Asoom L, Alassaf MA, AlSulaiman NS, et al. The effectiveness of Nigella sativa and ginger as appetite suppressants: an experimental study on healthy Wistar rats. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2023;19:1–11. doi:10.2147/VHRM.S396295
4. Al-Asoom LI, Al-Shaikh BA, Bamosa AO, El-Bahai MN. Comparison of Nigella sativa- and exercise-induced models of cardiac hypertrophy: structural and electrophysiological features. Cardiovasc Toxicol. 2014;14(3):208–213. doi:10.1007/s12012-014-9244-4
5. Al-Asoom LI, Al-Shaikh BA, Bamosa AO, El-Bahai MN. Effect of Nigella sativa supplementation to exercise training in a novel model of physiological cardiac hypertrophy. Cardiovasc Toxicol. 2014;14(3):243–250. doi:10.1007/s12012-014-9248-0
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