Abstract
BackgroundCorn peptides (CPs) are a novel food prepared from corn gluten meal, which is a main by-product of the corn starch industry. Recently, significant beneficial effects of CPs on early alcoholic liver injury in rats and on acute alcoholic injury in mice were observed. To our knowledge, the present study is the first report showing that CPs supplementation has beneficial effects on lipid profile, oxidative stress and alcoholic liver injury in men with chronic alcohol consumption.MethodsA 9-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted between September 2011 and August 2012 to assess the hepatoprotective effect of CPs. A total of 161 men were randomized to receive CPs (n = 53), whey protein (n = 54), or corn starch placebo (n = 54) at the same dose of 2 g twice daily. 146 participants completed the study. Serum lipid profile, serum markers of liver injury, oxidative stress and inflammation, and fatty liver based on the results of abdominal ultrasonography were assessed at the beginning and end of the intervention.ResultsCPs supplementation (4 g/d) for 9 weeks significantly lowered serum levels or activities of total cholesterol, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, malondialdehyde and tumor necrosis factor-α, and significantly increased serum activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, but the same dose of whey protein and corn starch (placebo) did not demonstrate these effects.ConclusionsOur results indicate that CPs may have protective effects on alcohol-induced liver damage via modulation of lipid metabolism and oxidative stress. CPs may potentially be used as a functional food for the management of alcoholic liver disease in subjects with chronic alcohol consumption.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1476-511X-13-192) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Corn peptides (CPs) are a novel food prepared from corn gluten meal, which is a main by-product of the corn starch industry
Previous studies have demonstrated that CPs possess various bioactive functions, such as anti-hypertension [23], antioxidant [6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14], improvements in lipid profile [9], facilitation of alcohol metabolism [16,24,25], prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma [26], and protection against alcohol-[9,10] and other hepatotoxic substancesinduced liver injury [11,12], but limited data are available for the effect of CPs in humans
Our results consistently showed that CPs supplementation decreased serum Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities in men with chronic alcohol consumption
Summary
Corn peptides (CPs) are a novel food prepared from corn gluten meal, which is a main by-product of the corn starch industry. The present study is the first report showing that CPs supplementation has beneficial effects on lipid profile, oxidative stress and alcoholic liver injury in men with chronic alcohol consumption. Corn peptides (CPs), a novel food prepared from CGM by enzymatic hydrolysis, have attracted considerable interest due to various bioactive properties, including antioxidant activity [6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14], improvements in lipid profiles [9] and the ability to accelerate alcohol metabolism [15,16] and protect against alcohol-induced liver injury [9,10]. This study assessed the effect of CPs (4 g/d) on lipid profile, oxidant stress, inflammation and alcoholic liver injury in men with chronic alcohol consumption and fatty liver
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