ET ISSUE 2139 Tuesday 3 April 2001

Prickly fat fighter Sarah Lonsdale looks at the natural fruit alternative to the new anti-fat drug

PRICKLY pears could be a natural alternative to Orlistat, the new anti-obesity drug that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) believes should be made available on the NHS for the clinically obese.

Orlistat works by preventing enzymes in the gut from breaking down fats, and has some rather unpleasant side effects - including gas and oily discharge and an urgent need to visit the lavatory after eating meals with a high fat content. The drug prevents about 30 per cent of ingested fat from being absorbed by the body; instead it passes straight through.

Prickly pears, a type of cactus and used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years, prevent fats and sugars from being absorbed by the body without any of the unpleasant side effects.

The fruit originated around the Gulf of Mexico and was brought over to Europe after the 16th century. It now grows in hot, dry areas in Spain, France and Italy.

About 5,000 years ago, indigenous people in Mexico began farming the prickly pear, a fleshy, juicy fruit full of seeds that tastes sweet. The flat, prickly stem pads are fried or boiled as fibrous vegetables.

Prickly pears were used as food and medicine. By the time the Spanish arrived in Mexico, the prickly pear was well established in traditional medicine. A doctor in the court of King Philip II described how Indians used prickly pears for the treatment of muscular inflammations, rheumatic pain, indigestion and diarrhoea, gastric ulcers and heart disease. In Mexico today, it is used as a traditional cure-all, to ward off colds and flu - and as a laxative.

But recent work on the fibres and gums in the stems has revealed another important use of the plant: in reducing levels of glucose and insulin in the blood, as well as lowering levels of blood cholesterol and body weight in obese and diabetic patients.

Research by Dr Christian Diehl, of the University of Lyon in France, shows that weight loss can be achieved if the supplement is taken just before eating. Forty overweight patients who took part in the trial lost, on average, four and a half pounds of fatty tissue per month, without significantly reducing their calorie intake.

"The fibres and gums in the extract appear to bind with ingested sugar and fat in the digestive tract," says Dr Diehl. "This binding action reduced the absorption of sugars and fats, leaving them undigested and eliminated by the body, aiding weight loss." Also, output at the other end of the body is not as unpleasant as with Orlistat.

Unlike other countries in Europe where doctors can prescribe herbal remedies - in Germany, doctors issue five million prescriptions annually for ginkgo biloba for circulatory ailments - British doctors cannot prescribe them without a product licence. It is estimated that prescriptions of Orlistat, sold under the trade name Xenical, will cost the NHS about £12 million annually.

Exo'Kal, the prickly pear extract used in the French trial, is available from health food stores, price £19.95 for 100 tablets and is available from the Nutri-centre: 020 7436 5122

-- Anonymous, April 02, 2001