Body Fat Reduction and Weight Management

Obesity is a chronic complex disease defined by excessive fat deposits that can impair health. Obesity can lead to increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, it can affect bone health and reproduction, it increases the risk of certain cancers. Obesity influences the quality of living, such as sleeping or moving. The diagnosis of overweight and obesity is made by measuring people's weight and height and by calculating the body mass index (BMI): weight kg/height² m². The body mass index is a surrogate marker of fatness and additional measurements, such as the waist circumference, can help the diagnosis of obesity. The BMI categories for defining obesity vary by age and gender in infants, children and adolescents. Corn silk also known as Stigma maydis is a type of agricultural waste composed of a long, silky, hair-like structure ranging from yellowish to reddish in colour. In vitro and in vivo studies of corn silk showed adipogenesis, lipid metabolism and body weight management. Additionally, it reduces and inhibits adipose tissue formation and reduces the size of adipocytes and prevents excess fat accumulation. The anti-obesity effect of maize silk extract decreases the absorption of dietary fat and suppresses the formation of fatty acids. Corn silk inhibits the expression of adipogenic transcription factors like the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma and CCAAT/enhancer-binding proteins C/EBPs and prevents the differentiation of pre-mature adipocytes into mature adipocytes, it also suppresses the development of adipose tissue and the accumulation of excess fat.