Clin Nutr Res.  2015 Jul;4(3):168-174. 10.7762/cnr.2015.4.3.168.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) Tea Drinking Suppresses Subjective Short-term Appetite in Overweight Women

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Medical Nutrition, Graduate School of East-West Medical Science, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 446-701, Korea. hjlim@khu.ac.kr, rwcho@khu.ac.kr
  • 2Research Institute of Medical Nutrition, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Korea.

Abstract

Appetite controlling has been an main strategy for regulating food intake and energy balance in obesity treatment. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of drinking tea of the medicinal herbs, fennel and fenugreek, on the subjective appetite in overweight Korean women. The study was conducted using a placebo-controlled, single-blinded, randomized, and 3-way crossover design. Nine healthy women were given fennel tea (FT), fenugreek tea (FGT), or placebo tea (PT). After drinking a given tea, a lunch buffet was provided and then food consumption of subjects was analyzed. Subjective appetite, hunger, fullness, desire to eat, and prospective food consumption were measured at seven independent time point using a visual analog scale (VAS). Mean age of 9 subjects were 49.7 +/- 4.5 years and their mean body mass index were 24.6 +/- 0.6 kg/m2. There was no significant difference in food consumption in the lunch buffet after drinking each tea; however, with respect to the subjective appetite scale, FGT decreased hunger, led to less prospective food consumption, and increased feelings of fullness compared with the PT (p < 0.05). Similarly, the consumption of FT resulted in decreased hunger, less prospective food consumption, and increased feelings of fullness compared with the PT (p < 0.05). The area under the curve of VAS graph indicated that FGT resulted in a higher feeling of fullness than the PT (p < 0.05). In conclusion, drinking the FT and FGT were significantly effective aid to suppress subjective appetite among overweight women in South Korea.

Keyword

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare); Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum); Visual analog scale; Appetite

MeSH Terms

Appetite*
Body Mass Index
Cross-Over Studies
Drinking*
Eating
Female
Foeniculum*
Humans
Hunger
Korea
Lunch
Obesity
Overweight*
Plants, Medicinal
Tea*
Trigonella*
Visual Analog Scale
Tea

Figure

  • Figure 1 Study design. A placebo-controlled single-blinded randomized 3-way crossover design. Subjects: 9 healthy overweight women (23.0 kg/m2 ≤ body mass index < 25.0 kg/m2).

  • Figure 2 Visual Analog Scale (VAS) according to time passage. Mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM) for PT: placebo tea (control), FT: fennel tea, FGT: fenugreek tea. All analyses were arranged using two-way repeated measures ANOVA and verified using the Tukey's range test (p < 0.05). (A): Hunger (210 min) was significantly lower for FGT than PT, (B): Fullness at 90 min and 210 min were significantly higher for FT and FGT than PT, (C): Desire to eat (210 min) was significantly lower for FT than PT, (D): Prospective food consumption at 90 min and 210 min were significantly lower for FT and FGT than PT.


Reference

1. Ouwens MA, van Strien T, van der Staak CP. Tendency toward overeating and restraint as predictors of food consumption. Appetite. 2003; 40:291–298.
Article
2. Kim SJ, Kim KS, Shin SU, Choi YM, Kang BG, Yoon YS, Oh MS, Yoon IJ. A clinical study of decrease appetite effects by aromatherapy using foeniculum vulgare mill (fennel) to female obese patients. J Korean Orient Assoc Stud Obes. 2005; 5:9–20.
3. Hur MH, Kim CH, Ahn HC, Han JW, Kim C. The effects of inhalation of essential oils on the body weight, feeding amount, food efficiency rate and serum leptin of obese SD rats. J Korean Soc Plants People Environ. 2006; 9:113–124.
4. Mishkinsky J, Joseph B, Sulman FG. Hypoglycaemic effect of trigonelline. Lancet. 1967; 2:1311–1312.
5. Sharma RD. Effect of fenugreek seeds and leaves on blood glucose and serum insulin responses in human subjects. Nutr Res. 1986; 6:1353–1364.
Article
6. El-Soud NA, El-Laithy N, El-Saeed G, Wahby MS, Khalil M, Morsy F, Shaffie N. Antidiabetic activities of foeniculum vulgare mill. essential oil in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Maced J Med Sci. 2011; 4:139–146.
7. Al-Habori M, Raman A. Antidiabetic and hypocholesterolaemic effects of fenugreek. Phytother Res. 1998; 12:233–242.
Article
8. Fazli FR, Hardman R. The spice, fenugreek (Trigonella Foenum graecum L.): its commercial varieties of seed as a source of diosgenin. Trop Sci. 1968; 10:66–78.
9. Mathern JR, Raatz SK, Thomas W, Slavin JL. Effect of fenugreek fiber on satiety, blood glucose and insulin response and energy intake in obese subjects. Phytother Res. 2009; 23:1543–1548.
Article
10. Tea Industry Research Institute [Internet]. Bosung: Jeonnam Agricultural Research & Extention Services;c1997-2007. cited 2015 March 25. Available from http://bosungt.jares.go.kr/.
11. Flint A, Raben A, Blundell JE, Astrup A. Reproducibility, power and validity of visual analogue scales in assessment of appetite sensations in single test meal studies. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2000; 24:38–48.
Article
12. van Strien T, Frijters JE, van Staveren WA, Defares PB, Deurenberg P. The predictive validity of the Dutch Restrained Eating Scale. Int J Eat Disord. 1986; 5:747–755.
Article
13. Gori L, Gallo E, Mascherini V, Mugelli A, Vannacci A, Firenzuoli F. Can estragole in fennel seed decoctions really be considered a danger for human health? A fennel safety update. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012; 2012:860542.
Article
14. Rao PU, Sesikeran B, Rao PS, Naidu AN, Rao VV, Ramachandran EP. Short term nutritional and safety evaluation of fenugreek. Nutr Res. 1996; 16:1495–1505.
Article
15. Tóth L. [Studies on the etheric oil of Foeniculum vulgare. II. Changes of different fennel oils before and after harvest]. Planta Med. 1967; 15:371–389.
Article
16. Rolls BJ, Bell EA, Thorwart ML. Water incorporated into a food but not served with a food decreases energy intake in lean women. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999; 70:448–455.
Article
17. Blundell J, de Graaf C, Hulshof T, Jebb S, Livingstone B, Lluch A, Mela D, Salah S, Schuring E, van der Knaap H, Westerterp M. Appetite control: methodological aspects of the evaluation of foods. Obes Rev. 2010; 11:251–270.
Article
18. Chatterjee A, Prakashi SC. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IN). The treatise on Indian medicinal plants. New Delhi: Publications & Information Directorate;1995.
19. Bruneton J. Polysaccharides derived from mannose - "neutral mucilages". Pharmacognosy: phytochemistry medicinal plants. 2nd ed. Paris: Lavoisier;1999. p. 99–105.
20. Ribes G, Sauvaire Y, Da Costa C, Baccou JC, Loubatieres-Mariani MM. Antidiabetic effects of subfractions from fenugreek seeds in diabetic dogs. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1986; 182:159–166.
Article
21. Bever BO, Zahnd GR. Plants with oral hypoglycaemic action. Pharm Biol. 1979; 17:139–196.
Article
22. Hannan JM, Ali L, Rokeya B, Khaleque J, Akhter M, Flatt PR, Abdel-Wahab YH. Soluble dietary fibre fraction of Trigonella foenum-graecum (fenugreek) seed improves glucose homeostasis in animal models of type 1 and type 2 diabetes by delaying carbohydrate digestion and absorption, and enhancing insulin action. Br J Nutr. 2007; 97:514–521.
Article
23. Mowla A, Alauddin M, Rahman MA, Ahmed K. Antihyperglycemic effect of Trigonella foenum-graecum (fenugreek) seed extract in alloxan-induced diabetic rats and its use in diabetes mellitus: a brief qualitative phytochemical and acute toxicity test on the extract. Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med. 2009; 6:255–261.
24. A Konishi I Ishibashi Y Kitahara K Miura S Narasaka . Ajinomoto Co., Inc.Agent for suppression of gastric emptying comprising 4-hydroxyisoleucine. United States patent. US 20090247636 A1. 2009. 10. 01.
Full Text Links
  • CNR
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr