Bromelain in Obesity Therapy: A Review of Anti-Inflammatory and Metabolic Mechanisms

The increasing prevalence of obesity, a chronic disease, necessitates the development and evaluation of evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies tailored to heterogeneous populations. Certain fruits, including papaya and pineapple (Ananas comosus), have been investigated as potential dietary components in obesity management. In the context of obesity and chronic low-grade inflammation, bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme derived from pineapple, is a widely studied phytotherapeutic agent that acts through multiple mechanisms intersecting immune and metabolic pathways. This narrative review summarizes current evidence on the effects of bromelain in obesity, low-grade inflammation, and related metabolic disturbances. Searches of the literature were conducted in Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus databases. This review incorporates findings from in vitro, animal, and human studies. We outline the mechanisms and evidence supporting the therapeutic efficacy of bromelain, emphasizing its implications for obesity management in clinical settings. Bromelain has been shown to exert significant anti-inflammatory activity and may modulate adipocyte metabolism, potentially alleviating comorbidities associated with excess adiposity. Although its effects on immune cells are relatively well described, the mechanisms underlying bromelain's actions on adipocytes remain incompletely understood.