الفهرس 
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Abstract
Gum arabic (GA) also known as gum sudani, gum acacia, acacia, Senegal gum, Indian gum, and by other names, was defined In the thirty first Codex Committee for Food Additives, held at The Hague from 19 to 23 March 1999, as the dried exudate from the trunks and branches of Acacia senegal or Vachellia (Acacia seyal) in the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae). A 2017 safety re-evaluation by the Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said that the term ”gum arabic” does not indicate a particular botanical source; in a few cases, so‐called ”gum arabic” may not even have been collected from Acacia species there are approximately 900 species of acacia capable of producing mucilage. These are located mainly in tropical climates, with about 130 of them located specifically on the African continent. Therefore, Africa soon became the main location for GA production. This is why it is also referred to as ”Senegal gum”. The mucilage is essentially the secretion of many acacia (leguminous) trees. The species of Acacia Gum, numbering as many as seventeen, produce acacia Gum of varying type and quantity. Interestingly, approximately 80% of GA is produced by Acacia Senegal in Sudan Republic. The rest is produced by either Acacia laeta or Acacia seyal, with each species contributing 10% of the total supply of gum. The chewing gum produced by Acacia Senegal is commonly referred to as ”hard chewing gum” and the gum from Acacia seyal, ”flaky gum”. Europe and the United States are major GA markets that import an average of 40 kilotons per year, while Japan, the largest Asian consumer, imports about 2 kilotons per year.
The uses of GA have been known since ancient times back to the year 2000 BC when the Egyptians used it as a called ”Gum arabic” because was exported from Arabian ports. Today, the properties and features of GA have been widely explored and developed and it is being used in a wide range of industrial sectors such as textiles, ceramics, lithography, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food. Regarding food industry, GA is approved for use as a food additive by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration and is on the list of substances ”generally recognized as safe”. In this context, they were fortified the flour with different levels of GA and produced high-dietary fiber bakery products. Also, the addition of GA to the flour leads to enhance the rheological properties of the dough subsequently the quality of the manufactured breads. Also, GA is used as a stabilizer, a flavor fixative, a thickener, an adhesive and/or an emulsifier agent. The following products may contain GA at approximately the concentrations indicated: candy (28%); chewing gum (2.8%); imitation dairy products, frostings, fats and oils, and grain products (1%); sugar substitutes, fruit ices, nut products, and gelatin puddings (0.5% - 0.06%); baked goods, meat products, and alcoholic beverages (0.15% - 0.06%); instant coffee and tea (0.08% - 0.01%); nonalcoholic beverages (0.06% - 0.04%), processed fruit, frozen dairy products, and breakfast cereals (0.02% - 0.007%).
Regarding the biological role of GA has confirmed in the last four decades including reduction in plasma cholesterol level in animals and humans, anticarcinogenic effect and antioxidant effect with a protective role against hepatic and cardiac toxicities. In addition to that, it has been claimed that GA alleviates effects of chronic renal failure in humans. Also, GA is indigestible to both humans and animals, not degraded in the intestine, but fermented in the colon to give short-chain fatty acids, leading to a large range of possible health benefits. One of these benefits is its prebiotic effect. For example, some experiments reported that four week supplementation with Gum Arabic (10 g/day) led to significant increases in Bifidobacteria, Lactobacteria, and Bacteriodes indicating a prebiotic effect. Several epidemiological studies suggest that a high intake of dietary fiber, including GA (dietary fiber > 80%), is associated with beneficial effects on fat metabolism. It can serve to reduce obesity and therefore prevent associated complications in humans. Clinically, it has been tried in patients with chronic renal failure, and it was claimed that it helps reduce urea and creatinine plasma concentrations and reduces the need for dialysis from 3 to 2 times per week. Also, GA used internally for the treatment of inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, and externally to cover inflamed surfaces. Despite the fact that GA is widely used as a vehicle for drugs in experimental physiological and pharmacological experiments, and is assumed to be an ‘‘inert” substance, some recent reports have claimed that GA possesses antioxidant, nephroprotectant and other effects. All of the previous studies with the others led to widely use GA around the world in folk and modern medicine.
Obesity is a complex disease that results from the inappropriate control of the body’s energy balance due to overfeeding and/or a sedentary way of life. According to the Faculty of Public Health, obesity is “an excess of body fat frequently resulting in a significant impairment of health and longevity. It is a state of excess adipose tissue mass. Although often viewed as equivalent to increased body weight, this need not be the case-lean but very muscular individuals may be overweight by numerical standards without having increased adiposity. Body weights are distributed continuously in populations, so that choice of a medically meaningful distinction between lean and obese is somewhat arbitrary. Obesity is therefore more effectively defined by assessing its linkage to morbidity or mortality. Although not a direct measure of adiposity, the most widely used method to gauge obesity is the body mass index (BMI), which is equal to weight/height2 (in kg/m2). Overweight is generally defined as a BMI greater than 25; individuals with a BMI greater than 30 are classified as obese. Other approaches to quantifying obesity include anthropometry (skin-fold thickness), densitometry (underwater weighing), CT or MRI, and electrical impedance. Using data from the Metropolitan Life Tables, BMIs for the midpoint of all heights and frames among both men and women range from 19–26 kg/m2; at a similar BMI, women have more body fat than men. Based on data of substantial morbidity, a BMI of 30 is most commonly used as a threshold for obesity in both men and women. Large-scale epidemiologic studies suggest that all-cause, metabolic, cancer, and cardiovascular morbidity begin to rise (albeit at a slow rate) when BMIs are ≥25, suggesting that the cut-off for obesity should be lowered. Most authorities use the term overweight (rather than obese) to describe individuals with BMIs between 25 and 30. A BMI between 25 and 30 should be viewed as medically significant and worthy of therapeutic intervention, especially in the presence of risk factors that are influenced by adiposity, such as hypertension and glucose intolerance. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are more than one billion overweight adults in the world. At least 300 million of them are clinically obese and of these about 115 million come from developing countries. In Egypt, a developing country, is undergoing rapid urbanization changes. This has a direct impact on its people’s dietary habits and physical activity patterns. According to national studies, it is common to skip meals and to replace them with daily snacks, and most of these snacks are high in calories and low in nutrients. So, Egypt appeared in No. 8 ranking among the countries of the world where obesity - adult prevalence rate, 30.3%.
In obesity treatment/prevent strategies, both hypocaloric diets (decreased energy intake) and increased physical activity (increased energy output) result in loss of body weight and body fat. With these traditional approaches to weight loss, potential therapeutic agents could be important tools in preventing and/or treating obesity and associated metabolic diseases. Although a number of pharmacological approaches have been investigated in recent years, few therapeutically effective and safe products have been developed. from ancient to modern times, some plants have been utilized as medicinal agents. These medicinal agents initially took the form of crude drugs such as tinctures, teas, poultices, powders, and other herbal formulations. The specific plants to be used and the methods of application for particular ailments were passed down through oral history. Eventually information regarding medicinal plants was recorded in herbals.
In recent history, the use of plants such gum trees and their exudates (GA) as medicines has involved the preparation of extracts and isolation of bioactive compounds. Many studies reported that many important bioactive compounds have been discovered from natural sources using bioactivity-directed fractionation and isolation. These bioactive compounds are mostly secondary plant metabolites, and many naturally occurring pure compounds have become medicine, dietary supplements, and other useful commercial products.
Aim of study
The present study was designed as a trial to open or extend new avenue for the using GA in therapeutic nutrition applications through study the effects of supplementation the diets with GA on the obesity complications in experimental rats. Also, the chemical composition, nutritional evaluation, bioactive compounds content and biological activities of GA will be in the scope of this study.