The Effect of Nutritional Lipid Supplementation on Serum Lipid Levels and Effectiveness of Antitubercular Chemotherapy

Abstract

The effect of serum lipid levels on the incidence and management of tuberculosis has recently been brought to the fore. The aim was to see the effect of nutritional supplementation on susceptibility of organisms of the mycobacterium tuberculosis complex to some known antitubercular drugs via effect on serum lipid levels. Blood samples were collected for baseline estimation of serum lipids from 250 tuberculosis patients who were then allocated into four groups including: those taking drugs for tuberculosis(antitubercular drugs) treatment only, those on antitubercular drugs and one boiled egg daily, those on antitubercular drugs and fish oil (1000 IU/day), and those on antitubercular drugs and both egg and fish oil daily, all for a three month duration, at the end of which blood samples were collected for estimation of serum triglycerides, total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), and Phospholipids, using appropriate methods. Results shows that though treatment with antitubercular drugs and supplementation with fish oil led to increases in serum lipid levels which were ab initio lower in tuberculosis patients than Healthy controls, supplementation with boiled egg led to a higher increase in serum lipid levels. Supplementation with fish oil also led to the greatest decreases in antitubercular drug resistance. It is thus suggested that supplementation with lipid rich foods in tuberculosis treatment will decrease anti tuberculosis drug resistance and help the global campaign on tuberculosis eradication.