Abstract
Obesity is a major risk of chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases and type-2 diabetes mellitus. These diseases are the leading causes of death worldwide. Therefore, it is necessary to search for anti-obesity therapeutics. This study aimed to investigate, in vitro, the anti-obesity effect of Ephedra foeminea Forssk. for the first time. To achieve our aim, acetone, hexane, aqueous and methanol fractions were derived from E. foeminea. It appeared that the four fractions had strong inhibitory effect against the activity of α-amylase enzyme with IC50 value range 13-15 μg/mL. Methanol fraction possessed the strongest inhibitory effect on glucosidase (IC50 117.5 μg/mL) and lipase enzymes activities (IC50 24.5 μg/mL). Furthermore, methanol fraction possessed the strongest antioxidant activity (IC50 14.5 μg/mL) and had no cytotoxic effect. This indicates that methanol fraction is a potential and safe source of therapeutically active compounds with anti-obesity and anti-diabetic potency.