[Gow-Chin Yen] New Findings on the Potential of Phyllanthus emblica and Buckwheat Polysaccharides in Alleviating Alzheimer’s Disease and Obesity
Chair Professor Gow-Chin Yen and his team conducted polysaccharide extraction, physicochemical characterization, and functional evaluation of plant-derived polysaccharides, and found that Phyllanthus emblica polysaccharides and buckwheat polysaccharides possess distinct beneficial effects in alleviating Alzheimer’s disease-related cognitive impairment and obesity, respectively. Their studies showed that Phyllanthus emblica polysaccharides can improve cognitive function by modulating autophagy, reducing neuroinflammation and oxidative stress, and reshaping the gut microbiota, whereas buckwheat polysaccharides can mitigate obesity by enhancing lipid metabolism and regulating gut microbiota composition. These findings highlight the functional potential of plant polysaccharides in the prevention and management of neurodegenerative and metabolic disorders. The studies were published in Food & Function (Chen et al., 2025) and International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (Fang et al., 2025).
Article source: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/fo/d5fo03048j/unauth