Foteini Ntalouka ^* Athina Tsirivakou

• Other, Athens, Greece

Overweight and obesity are conditions associated with serious comorbidities, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Prevalence of excessive fat accumulation is increasing worldwide, and thus the need for efficient and sustainable weight loss regimes has become a major issue in clinical practice. Despite the important advances in the development of anti-obesity medications (AOM), their side effects, cost, and accessibility, are limiting factors for their routine use. Conversely, the studies of medicinal plants for weight management holds strong promise as a growing area of research. This review consolidates the representative evidence about the beneficial impacts of Morus alba on weight management and associated metabolic parameters, encompassing: inhibition of digestive enzymes, and thus contribution to the energy deficit required for weight loss, improvements in glucose and lipid metabolism, and attenuation of adiposity. Findings from in vitro, in vivo, and clinical investigations reviewed in the paper, demonstrate that white mulberry extracts have the potency to supplement efficiently and safely a healthy weight management approach.A systematic electronic search of the literature was performed, from inception to the current date, using the following online databases: NCBI, Pubmed, and Google Scholar. The search strategy used a combination of keywords as follows: "Morus alba", "Morus alba digestive enzymes", "Morus alba glucose metabolism", "Morus alba adiposity", "1-DNJ glucose", "Morus alba lipid metabolism", "Morus alba metabolic syndrome", "Morus alba antiobesity".The authors selected relevant studies initially by screening the abstracts. Articles that met the criteria were then further reviewed to determine whether they would be included in the present review. Inclusion criteria consisted of published articles, articles that were available in English, and included in vitro, in vivo, and clinical trials. Exclusion criteria consisted of duplicates, non-English articles, articles that did not report outcome measures, and papers that were unrelated to the scope of the review. Additional references were included after a review of the bibliography of the identified papers and review articles. Out of 300 citations, 127 relevant articles were selected and included in the present review.