One Heavy Hitting Compound In Thunder God Vine – Celastrol Exposed

There are many active compounds in Thunder God Vine, but one of them is making headlines in the news lately. Celastrol is the compound in Thunder God Vine that seems to have scientists most interested, and what they are finding could change the lives of people suffering from obesity or rheumatic conditions across the world.

Celastrol may be helpful to the 35% plus of the adult American population who are overweight. There is a hormone in the human body called “Leptin”, which has been nicknamed the “thin hormone” because of what it does – it suppresses food intake, and it increases energy expenditure. Some people are born with this hormone in abundant supply and they remain thin throughout their adult years with what seems like little effort. Others are not so fortunate.

Leptin is released by your body’s fat cells and it signals your brain while you are eating that you are full. If you don’t have enough leptin, or you are insensitive to the leptin you do have, then your body is talking, but your brain isn’t listening. Or more accurately, your body is talking, but your brain can’t HEAR it.

For the majority of obese people, we actually tend to have higher levels of Leptin than others, so low leptin is rarely the problem. The problem is, we are insensitive to the leptin we have. And its a double edged sword as leptin insensitivity decreases our body’s ability to tell us when we are full, but higher amounts of leptin due to having more fat cells decreases the metabolism.

Dr. Umut Ozcan’s lab began testing the effects of Celastrol on obese mice that were fed high sugar and fat diets to increase their body mass.

What he and his team found was that Celastrol treatment not only helped obese mice lose weight, but it

…also prevented the development of obesity in lean mice on a high fat diet. This effect persisted for the 200-day experimental period without causing toxic effects in the mice. Celastrol does reduce food intake during the first few weeks of weight loss, but food intake soon returns to normal levels, and weight loss maintenance can be attributed to increased energy expenditure. To show that Celastrol in fact does improve leptin sensitivity, researchers tested it in the ob/ob [non-functional leptin] and db/db [non-functional leptin receptor] mutant mice mentioned earlier. Celastrol has no effects in these mice, showing that its effects are dependent on leptin signaling (Geering).

Now if course, this study was performed on mice, not humans. As the science moves forward on this, Celastrol will be studied to ascertain whether or not it is safe enough to be used as a synthetic drug for treatment of obesity in the future. However, Celastrol is extracted from the Thunder God Vine Root, and that root has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries for the treatment of other ailments such as rheumatic conditions and cancers. To think that it has an effect on obesity as well is more proof of the versatility of this naturally occurring herb, and the extract of its skinned roots.

One should not buy thunder god vine if they suffer from an already compromised immune system such as in the case of HIV/AIDS, or if one is trying to conceive a child (that goes for both men and women). You should also not buy thunder god vine if you have a pre-disposition toward osteoporosis, as it had been shown to reduce bone density in women after prolonged use (several years and longer). And of course always consult your physician before you start any new vitamin or supplement.

Geering, Mary. The Skinny on Celastrol, a Potential Future Anti-Obesity Drug. June 29, 2015. Retrieved from http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/the-skinny-on-celastrol-a-potential-future-anti-obesity-drug/.