ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Dyslipidemia leads to micro- and macro-vascular complications. Atorvastatin is the main therapeutic drug used for dyslipidemia, but it causes side effects such as new type 2 diabetes mellitus onset and elevation of liver enzymes. Herbs may be useful in reducing atorvastatin doses. Caper fruit, an herbal drug in Persian Medicine, has hypolipidemic effects. Hence, the effect of atorvastatin therapy with and without daily caper fruit pickle (CFP) consumption was assessed on hyperlipidemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this single-blinded, randomized, controlled trial, 60 hyperlipidemic patients were allocated in two groups and treated with 10 mg atorvastatin plus 40-50 g CFP (A10+CFP) or atorvastatin alone (A10) for eight weeks. Biochemical parameters were measured at baseline, 4, and eight weeks of the intervention. One-way repeated measure ANOVA and mixed ANOVA were used to measure the effect of the two treatments and the interaction between the type of treatment and time on lipid profile. RESULTS: Serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly decreased in the A10+CFP group compared with the A10 group (P<0.001 and P<0.001, respectively) from baseline up to the week 8. At week 4, mean changes of LDL-C was significantly higher in the A10+CFP compared with the A10 (P=0.01). Adjusting for the baseline variables, the mean difference of alanine aminotransferase (P<0.01) and triglyceride (P=0.003) were significantly higher in the A10+CFP group at the end. CONCLUSION: This study reports that the intake of CFP along with atorvastatin daily may have synergistic effects which improve the lipid profile in hyperlipidemic patients.
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.
