A Critical Review on Obesity: Herbal Approach, Bioactive Compounds, and Their Mechanism

Obesity is arising as a global pandemic throughout the world. Over the past few decades, obesity has tripled worldwide, creating an alarming situation. The majority of people nowadays are suffering from obesity and overweight. It affects health of people of all age groups, ethnicity, gender, and sex, and is linked to a sedentary lifestyle of people, poor eating habits, and disturbed sleeping patterns. It causes several diseases such as diabetes mellitus type 2, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, gallstones, and colon cancer. Many synthetic anti-obesity drugs such as orlistat, lorcaserin, phentermine, bupropion, and liraglutide are already available on the market. However, these drugs have side effects, including dry mouth and sleeping disorders, dizziness, blood pressure, heart rate elevation, constipation, and headache. Humans have a long and ancient history of dependency on traditional medicinal plants and their major bioactive antioxidant components, such as quercetin, anthocyanins, and ellagic acid, for treating such diseases and disorders. This review discusses the herbal approach, bioactive compounds, and their mechanism for treating obesity.