ASSESS THE EFFICIENCY OF MARJORAM ON WEIGHT CONTROL AND BODY COMPOSITION OF MALE AND FEMALE ADULT STUDENTS

Doaa R. Negm 1 , Abeer A. Sonbul 1 , Elham A. Bantan 2 , Hasan S. Bukhari 2 , Shahd M. Basalamah 1 , Abdulrahman M. Basfar 2 and Marah S. Mandourah 1 . 1. Clinical Nutrition department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm al Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. 2. Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Umm Al Qurauniversity, Makkah. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History

One of the previous study was done on rats to see the effect of natural herbs of marjoram and ginger on weight gain and level of cholesterol, this study found that the hypercholesterolemic rats which fed on hypercholesterolemic diet with marjoram, ginger or mixture of them demonstrated lower values of body weight gain compared to control group which fed also on hyperchloletrolemic diet without taken marjoram or ginger (6) .

Subjects And Methods:-
Subjects:-Study was conducted on 64 healthy students (36 female -28 male), female students was study on Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, and male from College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The students were Saudis and have been collected in variation of different stages and different medical specialties.
Methods:-Study design:-40 students were agreeing to consume marjoram tell one month all these who participated were met the following inclusion criteria: 1. Consent to participate in the study. 2. Healthy 3. Not use any medications or nutritional supplements. 4. Not pregnant or lactating women. 5. Not following any regimen for weight loss 6. Not allergic. 7. Not suffering from any chronic illness like Diabetes Mellitus, Chronic renal failure, asthma etc.

Data collection:-
The data were collected by direct interview. The questionnaire was completed by the researchers. The study questionnaire: The questionnaire covering three sections as follows: 1900 Demographics-Socio-Economic Data:-Include data about the general characteristics of the study sample such as gender, age, and income.
Dietary and Health Assessment Questionnaire:-Include dietary habit and intake, interest of weight management, and health status of the participants.
Anthropometric Measurements:-Anthropometric measurements are reliable and valid measurements that indicate nutritional status of the subjects. Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) device was used to measure weight, BMI, visceral fat, body fat percentage, body muscle percentage. Regarding to weight, participants were asked to remove their heavy outer garments and their shoes. Height was measured by using a measuring tape, with the shoulders in relaxed position and arms hanging freely.

Body Mass Index (BMI):-
Body mass index (BMI) is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify overweight and obesity in adults (table A). It is defined as a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters (kg/m2) (9) . Herbal Material:-Organic marjoram herb (dried leaves) was purchased from local markets. It was placed in small storage bags, each containing 1.5 g of herb (equivalent to one heaped teaspoon). Preparation of marjoram tea was performed by participants. They were taught to prepare this in accordance with the traditional method, which steeping the bag of marjoram tea in 250 mL of boiled water until the color changed, followed by straining. Participants were instructed to drink one cup (250 mL) of the assigned tea, unsweetened, daily after their main meal by 2 hours.

Statistical Analysis:-
All results were tabled with SPSS software 21 th edition. Descriptive statistics were run to summarize the collected data, and the results were displayed in frequencies and percentages. Chi square analysis was performed to test the differences between variables. Obtained results were tabulated and expressed as (mean ± SD). The differences among the participants were analyzed by T, test. All statistical analyses were performed at significant level of 95% (P. value ≤ 0.05).

Results:-
The demographic profile of participants presents in table (1) which shows that out of 36 subjects, 56.2 % were females and 43.8 % were males. Income vary between them, nearly half of them has >8000 SR/month .All of the participants were falling in the age group of 19-25 years old.
As showed In table (2) the number of females have regular weight monitoring and looking for ideal weight is more than males which represents (83.3% Vs.72.4%) respectively. Most of females showed that they measure their weight once in a month or less (44.4%), while most males showed to measure it twice a month (35.7%). Females have interest to loss their weight to improve confidence and appearance and health status with a significant difference with males (P<0.05). Most participants prefer using diet on weight reduction than other methods. As showed in the table (3) the appetite of males was significantly (P<0.05) better than females (50%) of males have excellent appetite, while most of females (44.4%) have good appetite. Both of males and females consider lunch as the main meal and preferred home foods as their favorite food. Table 3:-Distribution of the participants regarding to dietary habits and intake.
In table (4) data shows that 28.6% of males have heard about marjoram herb, while 44.4% of female heard about it, 71.4% of males and 55.6% of females did not have knowledge and background about marjoram herb. 7.1 % of males known about health benefits of marjoram herb while the same percentage (7.1%) of them answered that marjoram herb doesn't has health benefits, and the majority of males (85.7%) don't know whether the herb has health benefits or not. The same trends were found on females.   Data presented in table (6) shows that the mean value of weight was significantly (P <0.005) decreased after one month of consuming marjoram than before represented (78.88±5.06 vs. 77.95±5.01) respectively. Percent of fat and Visceral fat was decreased but with insignificant different.

Discussion:-
Obesity becomes more prevalent, weight-loss practices grow increasingly popular in developed and developing countries. More than two-thirds of the adult population of the United States has attempted to lose or maintain weight (10) , and between 15 and 35% of adults in Canada, Netherlands and the European Union are trying to lose weight at any given time (11) . The proportion of adolescents and university students attempting to lose weight is even greater: 30% in Lebanon (12) , 23% in Canada (13) , 37% in Japan (14) .
Obtained data in the present study showed that 57.1%, 72.2% of male and female respectively interest to monitor their weight and 71.4% of male and 83.3% of female take care of IBW, to feel satisfied with their body shape 1904 appearance and to prevent diseases related to obesity. These finding agree with Lynch et al., (2007) (15) they reported that, thin body is the most preferred body shape in Western countries. Data showed that the first priority of females to loss their weight is to improve confidence and appearance. In agreement with this result Najatet al., 2011 (16) they found that females were more worried about their body shape than males as 89% of the worried students were females, whereas, the majority of the "not worried" group were male students.
Most of students preferred diet and physical activity to reduce their weight, in the study of dieting practices, weight perceptions, and body composition: a comparison of normal weight, overweight, and obese college females, Malinauskaset al., 2006 (17) found that 80% of their participated students used physical activity as a weight control strategy. Another study done by King et al., 2007 (18) among 204 students, recruited from Midwestern University, reported that students did exercise to lose weight and improve their body appearances.
Less of participants use herbs for weight control (7.1% of male and 16.7% of female). In disagreement with this results Mamtaniet al., (2005) (19) they found that most participants favored herbal supplements for reducing weight and they reported that all health-care practitioners and students should be educated about benefits and risks of herbal supplements. In the study of Herbal Medicine among Saudis: Awareness, Uses, Reasons and Common Herbs, Abdulaziz Alanziet al., 2016 (20) found that (80%) out of their sample have used herbs as a medications and herbs used for acute conditions account for (70%) while chronic conditions only (20%).
Data presented in table (6) showed significant reduction on body weight after one month of marjoram consumption. In agreement with this result Lobnaet al., 2014 (21) they found that food weight gain, food intake and food efficiency ratio showed significant decreases in experimental group of rats consumed marjoram compared to normal control group. Soltan and Abdel Wahab, 2006 (22) reported that the hypolipidaemic activity of marjoraml in rats could be attributed to the presence of valuable polyphenolic compounds, terpenoids, flavonoids, tannins, hydroquinone, phenolic glycosides and sabinene. Amarowiczet al., 2008 (23) found that marjoram ethanolic extract contain considerable amounts of total phenolics compounds and have antioxidant activity and free radical-scavenging capacity. Rang andDale, 1991 (24) reported that the hypocholesterolemic effect of marjoram could be attributed to presence of isoflavones which prevent intestinal absorption of cholesterol by competition for its absorption sites. These results are also in accordance with Negm, 2002 (25) who found that marjoram extract lead to significantly lowering in TG (p<0.01) than may be due to lower fatty acids synthase. In the study of Biochemical and histopathological studies on the water extracts of marjoram and chicory herbs and their mixture in obese rats Lamiaaet al., (2009) (26) found a significant weight reduction in rats group take 5% marjoram than negative control group.

Conclusion:-
The present study suggested that marjoram has a good effect on weight control and percent of body fats.

Recommendations:-
 More scientific studies on the effects of marjoram on weight reduction on the human are needed.  Make other study emphasis on side effect of mega dose of marjoram.

Limitations:-
The limitation in this study may be related to the small sample size and limited time.