GEORGE TOWN: A Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) lecturer has uncovered a surprising ally in the fight against fat.
Professor Zhari Ismail, a lecturer with the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, has unveiled an anti-obesity nutraceutical product prepared using a local plant extract.
The product, Nobesiti, contains an extract from the kaduk or wild pepper.
"The product inhibits the formation of blood vessels in fatty tissues.
"This means there is less chance for new fatty tissues to form while the old ones can be burnt out," he said here yesterday.
Zhari, who collaborated with six others in the research which started three years ago, said when blood vessels were not formed, fatty tissues were deprived of nutrients.
"The product can be taken in pill or liquid form. It can also be made into soluble pills with different flavours to be consumer friendly.
"The more common modes of treatment available, such as appetite suppressants and laxatives, have side effects.
"But we have not found any side effects from the consumption of kaduk so far."
He said the plant was not toxic and the product had been tested on animals.
But Zhari cautioned that the product was not a cure for obesity, and that obese people would still have to regulate their food consumption and exercise regularly.
He said there had been enquiries on the product, which was at pre-clinical stage, from at least five local companies and some of them had international connections.
He said once the prospective investor had been chosen, it would take about a year for the first two batches of Nobesiti to be produced and presented before the Health Ministry's Clinical Research Committee (CRC).
"Once the CRC gives us the green light, we will begin clinical testing on humans," he said, adding that the investor would have to pump in RM2 million for the clinical trial.
When the product hits the market, each pill is expected to cost RM2.
