The water extract of fermented bamboo shoots, a traditional pickle-like delicacy consumed mainly in Tripura, has anti-obesity effects, scientists have reported after lab tests on human fat cells.

Earlier studies have established that fermented bamboo shoots are more nutritious with high levels of proteins, vitamins and other health-beneficial compounds than regular bamboo shoots but their capacity to combat obesity had remained unexplored.

Now, Mojibur Khan and his colleagues at the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati, have found that the fermented extract of the bamboo shoot variety locally called melye-amiley accelerates energy expenditure by white fat cells that play a key role in obesity.

“Our study offers essential preliminary evidence for using melye-amiley as a natural therapeutic agent for managing obesity,” the IASST researchers said, describing their findings in the research journal Food Frontiers. They said detailed lab and animal studies would be crucial to verify the findings.

Their study examined five varieties of fermented bamboo shoots — melye-amiley from Tripura, soibum from Manipur and gajtenga from Assam. The scientists tested water extracts of the fermented bamboo shoots in cells from human fat tissues in lab test tubes.

What substances within the fermented bamboo shoot extract contribute to the anti-obesity effects remains unclear. The fermented bamboo shoot extracts contained multiple health-friendly bacteria, including species of Lactobacillus among others.

Melye-amile, which is a distinct fermented bamboo shoot variety associated with the Chakma and Mog tribes of Tripura, showed a predominance of Levilactobacillus and Lactococcus bacteria.

The analysis also revealed the presence of organic acids, sugar, sugar alcohols, amino acids and vitamins, among other materials in the melye-amiley extract. The scientists also found other bioactive compounds that they suspect play a role in the energy burnup.

The study has suggested that melye-amiley works against obesity-related fat through multiple pathways — it weakens the synthesis of fatty acids, suppresses the accumulation of fats and increases a process called fat browning that turns unhealthy white fat into healthier brown fat. White fat stores energy while brown fat dissipates energy by producing heat.

“Further bioactivity-guided phytochemical screening of the water extract of melye-amiley is needed to identify the exact compounds associated with the anti-obesity property,” the researchers have said in their paper. They have speculated that the ingredients contributing to the anti-obesity effects might be products of bacteria found in the fermented bamboo shoots.