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BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 1/2024

Open Access 01-12-2024 | Ulcerative Colitis | Research

Effects of Spirulina supplementation in patients with ulcerative colitis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial

Authors: Sajjad Moradi, Reza Bagheri, Parsa Amirian, Mahsa Zarpoosh, Neda Cheraghloo, Alexei Wong, Mehdi Zobeiri, Mohammad Hassan Entezari

Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies | Issue 1/2024

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Abstract

Aim

We conducted a randomized placebo-controlled trial to assess the efficacy of Spirulina (SP) supplementation on disease activity, health-related quality of life, antioxidant status, and serum pentraxin 3 (PTX-3) levels in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).

Methods

Eighty patients with UC were randomly assigned to consume either 1 g/day (two 500 mg capsules/day) of SP (n = 40) or control (n = 40) for 8 weeks. Dietary intakes, physical activity, disease activity, health-related quality of life, antioxidant status, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and serum PTX-3 levels were assessed and compared between groups at baseline and post-intervention.

Results

Seventy-three patients (91.3%) completed the trial. We observed increases in serum total antioxidant capacity levels in the SP supplementation group compared to the control group after 8 weeks of intervention (p ≤ 0.001). A within-group comparison indicated a trend towards a higher health-related quality of life score after 8 weeks of taking two different supplements, SP (p < 0.001) and PL (p = 0.012), respectively. However, there were no significant changes in participant’s disease activity score in response to SP administration (p > 0.05). Similarly, changes in ESR and PTX-3 levels were comparable between groups post-intervention (p > 0.05).

Conclusions

SP improved antioxidant capacity status and health-related quality of life in patients with UC. Our findings suggest that SP supplementation may be effective as an adjuvant treatment for managing patients with UC. Larger trials with longer interventions periods are required to confirm our findings.
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Metadata
Title
Effects of Spirulina supplementation in patients with ulcerative colitis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial
Authors
Sajjad Moradi
Reza Bagheri
Parsa Amirian
Mahsa Zarpoosh
Neda Cheraghloo
Alexei Wong
Mehdi Zobeiri
Mohammad Hassan Entezari
Publication date
01-12-2024
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies / Issue 1/2024
Electronic ISSN: 2662-7671
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-024-04400-w

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