Faculty of Medical Sciences and Technologies, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Eur J Nutr. 2021 Sep;60(6):3131-3141. doi: 10.1007/s00394-021-02492-5. Epub 2021 Feb 2.
Diabetes is a chronic disease and the prevalence of it is rapidly increasing. Recently, the use of natural products in chronic diseases such as diabetes has gained more attention. Chlorella, a single-celled green alga, is one of them. There have been some studies on the effects of chlorella supplementation in chronic diseases such as NAFLD, prediabetes, and diabetic mice, but none of them examined the effects of chlorella in patients with T2DM. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of chlorella supplementation on glycemic control, lipid profile, and anthropometric indices in type 2 diabetic patients.
This study is a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. 84 patients with T2DM assigned into two groups, receiving 1500 mg/day C. vulgaris or placebo for 8 weeks. Anthropometric information, blood pressure, 24-h food intake recall, and blood samples were collected at the beginning and end of the study to determine the changes of FBS, HbA1c, insulin concentration, insulin resistance, and lipid profile.
None of the variables investigated in this study showed a significant change after 8 weeks of intervention with C. vulgaris.
According to the findings of this study, supplementation with C. vulgaris with a dosage of 1500 mg/day for 8 weeks, does not improve the anthropometric measurements, glycemic status, and lipid profile as well. Thus, it cannot be considered as a complementary therapeutic approach to common medications at this dosage and duration. However, future studies with a higher dosage of C. vulgaris and more prolonged than 8 weeks are needed to be done.
糖尿病是一种慢性病，其患病率正在迅速上升。最近，人们对天然产物在糖尿病等慢性病中的应用越来越关注。绿球藻是一种单细胞绿藻，就是其中之一。已有一些关于绿球藻补充剂在非酒精性脂肪性肝病、糖尿病前期和糖尿病小鼠等慢性病中的作用的研究，但没有一项研究检查绿球藻对 2 型糖尿病患者的影响。本研究旨在评估绿球藻补充剂对 2 型糖尿病患者血糖控制、血脂谱和人体测量指标的影响。
这是一项双盲、随机对照试验。将 84 名 2 型糖尿病患者分为两组，分别服用 1500mg/天的 C. vulgaris 或安慰剂 8 周。在研究开始和结束时收集人体测量信息、血压、24 小时食物摄入回忆和血液样本，以确定 FBS、HbA1c、胰岛素浓度、胰岛素抵抗和血脂谱的变化。
在接受绿球藻干预 8 周后，本研究调查的变量均未显示出显著变化。
根据本研究的结果，每天补充 1500mg 的绿球藻 8 周，不能改善人体测量指标、血糖状况和血脂谱。因此，在这个剂量和时间范围内，不能将其视为常规药物的补充治疗方法。然而，需要进行更多剂量的绿球藻和超过 8 周的时间的进一步研究。
