Effect of Daily Caper Fruit Pickle Consumption on Disease Regression in Patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: a Double-Blinded Randomized Clinical Trial.

Narjes Khavasi,Mohammad Hosein Somi,Elnaz Faramarzi,Seyyed Muhammad Bagher Fazljou,Mohammadali Torbati,Ebrahim Khadem,Mohammad Hossein Ayati

doi:10.15171/apb.2017.077

Abstract

Purpose: Despite numerous studies on the effects of complementary medicine, to our knowledge, there is no study on the effects of Capparis spinosa on disease regression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients. We compared the effects of caper fruit pickle consumption, as an Iranian traditional medicine product, on the anthropometric measures and biochemical parameters in different NAFLD patients.Methods: A 12-weeks randomized, controlled, double-blind trial was designed in 44 NAFLD patients randomly categorized for the control (n=22) or caper (n=22). The caper group received 40-50 gr of caper fruit pickles with meals daily. Before and after treatment, we assessed anthropometric measures, grade of fatty liver, serum lipoproteins and liver enzymes.Results: Weight and BMI were significantly decreased in the caper (p<0.001 and p<0.001) and control group (p=0.001 and p=0.001), respectively. Serum TG, TC and LDL.C just were significantly decreased in the control group (p=0.01, p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively). Adjusted to the baseline measures, serum ALT and AST reduction were significantly higher in the caper than control group from baseline up to the end of the study (p<0.001 and p=0.02, respectively). After weeks 12, disease severity was significantly decreased in the caper group (p <0.001).Conclusion: Our results suggest that daily caper fruit pickle consumption for 12 weeks may be potentially effective on improving the biochemical parameters in NAFLD patients. Further, additional larger controlled trials are needed for the verification of these results.

Highlights

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the increasing metabolic disorders which has a direct link with obesity, glucose intolerance, inflammatory pathways and dyslipidemia.[1]
Purpose: Despite numerous studies on the effects of complementary medicine, to our knowledge, there is no study on the effects of Capparis spinosa on disease regression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients
We compared the effects of caper fruit pickle consumption, as an Iranian traditional medicine product, on the anthropometric measures and biochemical parameters in different NAFLD patients

Summary

Introduction

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the increasing metabolic disorders which has a direct link with obesity, glucose intolerance, inflammatory pathways and dyslipidemia.[1]. Plants and/or functional foods have been noticed for the disease control or treatment due to the ease of access and in some cases, due to fewer side effects.[10] Several traditional medicinal plants are used in different areas of the world to treat metabolic disorders.[11,12] Capparis spinosa (caper) belongs to the family of Capparidaceae and is widely found in the southern area of Iran and the western or central regions of Asia.[13,14] Caper’s root includes flavonoids, pectin, saponins, essential oils, tannins and glycosinolate and glycosides as valuable biochemical compounds.[15,16] Aqueous extract of C. spinosa showed blood glucose and lipid profile lowering effects in diabetic patients.[17,18] Different parts of the plant, including fruits, leaves, seeds, etc., may have different effects due to various active ingredients. We hypothesized that daily caper fruit pickle consumption leads to the improvement in anthropometric measures, liver function tests, lipid profile and grade of fatty liver in patients with NAFLD

Objectives

Methods

Results