This study was designed to evaluate the effect of Korean red ginseng (KRG) supplementation on glucose control in subjects with impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), or newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The study was a 12-week randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled (5 g of KRG [n = 21] or placebo [n = 20] in tablet form) trial. Glucose-related biomarkers, including serum and whole blood levels of glucose, insulin, and Cpeptide, were measured by 2-h oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) at baseline and after the 12-week intervention. After the intervention, the test group showed a significant decrease in serum levels of glucose at 30 min ( -22.24 -10.77 mg/dL) and whole blood levels of glucose at 30 min ( -17.52 -5.22 mg/dL). In addition, the test group tended to have lower whole blood levels of glucose at 0 min and glucose area under curve (AUC). However, the placebo group did not show any changes in blood glucose-related indices. The changes (difference from baseline) in serum glucose levels at 30 min, whole blood glucose levels at 60 min, and glucose AUC during OGTTs in the test group exhibited a tendency toward a decrease from those in the placebo group. There were significant decreases or trends toward a decrease in both serum insulin and C-peptide concentrations at most time intervals in the test group. In conclusion, KRG supplementation (5 g/day) may be beneficial for controlling serum and whole blood glucose levels compared with placebo among patients with IFG, IGT, or T2DM.
BackgroundIn vitro and animal studies have demonstrated that Chlorella is a potent biological response modifier on immunity. However, there were no direct evidences for the effect of Chlorella supplementation on immune/inflammation response in healthy humans.MethodsThis study was designed for an 8-week randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial: 5g of Chlorella (n=23) or Placebo (n=28) as form of tablets. Mainly, cytotoxic activities of Natural killer (NK) cells and serum concentrations of interferon-γ, interleukin-1β and interleukin-12 were measured.ResultsAfter the 8-week, serum concentrations of interferon-γ (p<0.05) and interleukin-1β (p<0.001) significantly increased and that of interleukin-12 (p<0.1) tended to increase in the Chlorella group. The increments of these cytokines after the intervention were significantly bigger in the Chlorella group than those in the placebo group. In addition, NK cell activities (%) were significantly increased in Chlorella group, but not in Placebo group. The increments of NK cell activities (%) were also significantly bigger in the Chlorella group than the placebo group. Additionally, changed levels of NK cell activity were positively correlated with those of serum interleukin-1β (r=0.280, p=0.047) and interferon-γ (r=0.271, p<0.005). Signficantly positive correlations were also observed among the changed levels of serum cytokines; between interferon-γ and interleukin-1β (r=0.448, p<0.001), between interleukin-12 and interleukin-1β (r=0.416, p=0.003) and between interleukin-12 and interferon-γ (r=0.570, p<001).ConclusionThese results may suggest a beneficial immunostimulatory effect of short-term Chlorella supplementation which enhances the NK cell activity and produces interferon-γ and interleukin-12 as well as interleukin-1β, the Th-1 cell-induced cytokines in healthy people.
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