Elenolic acid, a natural chemical found in olives, has been shown to help treat obesity and type 2 diabetes in new research presented at NUTRITION 2024 by the American Society for Nutrition. Researchers at Virginia Tech discovered that giving elenolic acid to overweight mice caused them to lose a lot of weight and make better use of their blood sugar. This study looks into how these results might change efforts to fight the obesity epidemic.

Dr. Dongmin Liu's study revealed that oral administration of elenolic acid significantly improved the metabolism of fat mice with diabetes. Mice given elenolic acid lost a lot more weight than mice in control groups. They also had better blood sugar control, with benefits similar to those of liraglutide, an injectable diabetes drug, and better results than metformin, a common oral diabetes drug. Elenolic acid also increased the release of the metabolic hormones GLP-1 and PYY, which made people feel full and stopped them from eating too much.

Elenolic acid tells L-cells in the gut to make GLP-1 and PYY, which are chemicals that make you feel full and keep your blood sugar in check. We broke down oleeuropein to create the complex, which was more cost-effective than directly obtaining it from olives. Low bioavailability is a problem that many natural substances face. This method fixes that problem.

Elenolic acid is a naturally occurring molecule that might help fight fat and type 2 diabetes. It's a safer and cheaper option than drugs because it works well and doesn't cost much. Elenolic acid copies the way the body normally reacts to food, which keeps the metabolism and energy balance in check. Because it can be taken as a vitamin or with a prescription, overweight or diabetic people may benefit more.

The research group is now trying to figure out elenolic acid's pharmacokinetics, or how the body absorbs, distributes, breaks down, and gets rid of it. This is very important for getting ready for clinical studies and figuring out if the drug is safe and effective for people.

It looks like these results are good, but they are just preliminary and come from tests on animals. The full proof of elenolic acid's medicinal potential will need to come from peer-reviewed journals and patient clinical trials. Still, elenolic acid shows a lot of promise as a natural, safe, and inexpensive way to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes. It could also be a strong addition to the ways we currently use to stop people from becoming overweight.