ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

To read the full abstract: Pharm Res. 2018 Dec 5;36(1):21.

Smectite purified from bentonite clay, and laponite SD-LAP, a synthetic Smectite were fed to rodents on a high-fat diet. Over a two-week period both the engineered clay and orlistat had weight loss effects.

The unanticipated discovery that clay has a unique ability to “soak up” fat droplets in the gut might have led to a new treatment for obesity. Clay minerals are very common in soils, in fine-grained sedimentary rocks such as shale, mudstone, and siltstone and have been detected at several locations on Mars and asteroids as well as the Jupiter’s moon Europa. Smectite clay minerals have long been investigated as adsorbent materials in the environmental science field and have been used for oral drug delivery owing to their excellent biocompatibility. The strong adsorptive capacity of clay minerals for ionized, polar and/or hydrophobic molecules has been widely investigated for the absorption of environmental contaminants/pollutants from soil, including lipids and fatty acids as byproducts of industrial processes. These investigators exploited the highly adsorptive nature of montmorillonite SD-MMT, a natural Smectite purified from bentonite clay, and laponite SD-LAP, a synthetic Smectite, to develop a novel anti-obesity treatment.

The clay was prepared via spray drying. The ability of SD-MMT and SD-LAP particles to inhibit lipid digestion kinetics and adsorb lipid species from solution was assessed during in vitro lipolysis. They were fed to rodents on a high-fat diet and their effect on body weight gain was evaluated. Over a two-week period both the engineered clay and orlistat had weight loss effects, but the clay outperformed the drug. SD-MMT and SD-LAP particles adsorbed 42% and 94% of all lipid species, respectively. They also reduced the rodent weight gain relative to the negative control treatment group and performed similarly to orlistat.

These particles may be developed as novel anti-obesity treatments with fewer adverse effects than currently marketed treatment options. Whereas the orlistat blocks enzymatic digestion of fat molecules, the clay particles trap these fats so they are excreted out of the body without causing gastrointestinal disturbances.