A Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo Controlled, Crossover Study to Assess the Safety and Beneficial Effects of Cassia Tora Supplementation in Healthy Adults.

OBJECTIVE: The current clinical trial was aimed at evaluating the safety and beneficial effect of Cassia tora (C. tora) supplementation in healthy adults. DESIGN: A randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study with a crossover design was done on 60 healthy normal weight adults (age range: 20-55 yrs). The study consisted of 2 treatment phases of 24 weeks each with a washout period of 4 weeks between the phases. 30 subjects randomly allocated to the 'Placebo first' group and 30 to 'C. tora first' group and assigned to receive a dose of C. tora (330 mg) or matched placebo three times a day. Safety markers were measured at base line and at the end of both the treatment phases. Body mass index, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, glycated hemoglobin, lipid profile and antioxidants were measured at baseline and at every three months interval. Repeated measures analysis was applied to assess the period and carryover effects of the drug over placebo on biochemistries. RESULTS: C. tora supplementation was well tolerated and no apparent changes were observed in safety markers. The net effect of C. tora in natural units over placebo was 0.83 [0.57, 1.09]- high density lipoprotein cholesterol; 27.63 [24.39, 30.88]- superoxide dismutase; 0.32 [0.28, 0.36]- catalase; 0.68 [0.56, 0.80]- glutathione peroxidase; 0.25 [0.22, 0.29]- glutathione s-transferase; 0.32 [0.29, 0.36]- glutathione and -1.08 [-1.63, -0.54]- low density lipoprotein cholesterol. CONCLUSION: The findings advocate that C. tora supplementation is safe and beneficial in elevating high density lipoprotein cholesterol and antioxidants and hence advised for consumption.

Interaction among body composition, self-rated health and functional status of the elderly in an Indian population.

The present study examined the relationship among body composition, measures of self-rated health and activities of daily living in a group of free living poor elderly aged >or = 60 years with a sample size of 147 subjects (82 males, 65 females) from Tirupati suburbs of Andhra Pradesh, India. The subjects were divided into three age groups i.e. 60-69, 70-79 and >or =80 years for comparison. Mean height, weight, circumferences of waist and hip and waist hip ratio (WHR) were higher in males than females with no difference in body mass index (BMI). However, none of the anthropometric variables showed significant association with age. The majority of the subjects rated themselves as 'poor' or 'fair' self-rated health and this corresponds well with the lower mean values of anthropometry as well as activities of daily living, well-being and memory and cognitive function, impaired health aids and in general health. Polytomous logistic regression showed that subjects with the highest score on well-being compared to the lowest score rated 0.325 times (CI: 0.124, 0.851; P<0.05) good vs fair. The odds ratio was 0.519 times (CI: 0.206, 1.306) between good vs poor. Regarding BMI, subjects who rated their health as good/fair tended to have BMI in the normal range. In the poor self-rated health group a maximum of 55% of males and 47% of females were below 19 units of BMI, which was reflected in the increase in odds ratio of 1.361 in males and 1.134 in females between good vs poor health ratings. The findings reveal that well-being and BMI are related to self-reported health status.