The study, published in the Journal of the Agricultural and Food Chemistry, investigated whether the intake of pterostilbene - a molecule similar to resveratrol - impacted body fat and obesity in rats after previous research suggested that phenolic compounds including resveratrol can help to fight fat.

Led by Saioa Gómez-Zorita from the University of the Basque Country, Spain, the authors said the research is the first pre-clinical piece of work that analyses the effects of the phenolic compound on obesity in an animal model - finding that in a rat model of obesity pterostilbene slashed levels of body fat.

"Pterostilbene shows antiobesity properties due, at least in part, to reduced lipogenesis in adipose tissue and increased fatty acid oxidation in liver," wrote the team.

These promising results, which have resulted in a patent, could be the starting point for conducting future studies on intervention in humans and designed to confirm this anti-obesity effect, said the team.

Obesity and pterostilbene

The team noted that while traditional guidelines for preventing and reversing obesity include following a low-calorie diet and doing moderate physical activity over the long term, the effectiveness of these strategies is limited and the success achieved is not always the desired one.

In this context, including functional ingredients in the diet has opened up new perspectives, including the potential for phenolic compounds to fight fat, they said - noting that pterostilbene is present in small amounts in a whole range of foods and beverages like grapes, blueberries, peanuts and red wine and widely consumed by humans.