Fucoxanthin could be natural treatment option for patients with metabolic syndrome

In a recent study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, the researchers have explored the effect of fucoxanthin on insulin sensitivity, metabolic syndrome (MetS), and insulin secretion. Armando López-Ramos, University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and colleagues found that the administration of fucoxanthin results in reduction in body mass index (BMI), body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and triglyceride (TG) and total insulin secretion in patients with metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic Syndrome (MS) is a cluster of cardiometabolic risk factors, including hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity, and high blood pressure. MetS is considered a severe health system problem due to the inability to implement an effective prevention and treatment program. Fucoxanthin represents a natural option with great interest in this research since it could be a new, safe and effective therapy for metabolic syndrome.

Therefore, the team evaluated the effect of fucoxanthin on insulin secretion, sensitivity, and MetS by conducting a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in 28 patients diagnosed with metabolic syndrome.

Patients were randomly allocated 12 mg of fucoxanthin or placebo once daily for 12 weeks. The researchers evaluated the components of metabolic syndrome, the first phase of insulin secretion (Stumvoll index), insulin sensitivity (Matsuda index), and total insulin secretion before and after the intervention during a 2-h oral glucose tolerance test.

After fucoxanthin administration, the researchers observed significant differences in body mass index (31.1 ± 3.6 versus 30.3 ± 3.7 kg/m2), body weight (80.6 ± 11.2 versus 79.16 ± 12.3 kg), systolic blood pressure (126.1 ± 10.3 versus 120.8 ± 9.7 mmHg), waist circumference (101.2 ± 9.1 versus 98.9 ± 9.3 cm), diastolic blood pressure (81.5 ± 6.5 versus 78.6 ± 6.3 mmHg), Stumvoll index (2403 ± 621 versus 2907 ± 732), total insulin secretion (0.84 ± 0.31 versus 1.02 ± 0.32), and triglycerides (2.2 ± 0.7 versus 2.1 ± 0.7 mmol/L).

"Fucoxanthin administration reduces BMI, BW, WC, DBP, SBP, TG, and an increase in the first phase of insulin secretion and total insulin secretion in patients with metabolic syndrome," the authors concluded.

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