Research paper
Antioxidant supplements reduced oxidative stress and stabilized liver function tests but did not reduce inflammation in a randomized controlled trial in obese children and adolescents.
Study answer
What this study found
Antioxidant supplementation improved antioxidant status and reduced markers of oxidative stress, and liver function tests were modestly stabilized, but systemic inflammation was not reduced. In the active treatment arm, a-tocopherol increased from 28.8 6 5.5 to 51.7 6 11.9 (P < 0.001), ascorbic acid increased from 136 6 36 to 178 6 36 (P < 0.001), selenium increased from 1.06 6 0.12 to 1.15 6 0.14 (P = 0.019), and 8-iso-PGF2a decreased from 0.28 (0.19, 0.90) to 0.21 (0.12, 0.79) (P = 0.014). Inflammation markers did not meaningfully change, with CRP showing a treatment effect of 0.07 (-0.08,…
- Study & population
- Randomized controlled trial in overweight or obese children and adolescents aged 10 to 18 years enrolled in six outpatient lifestyle modification programs in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
- Intervention
- Oral antioxidant supplementation for 4 months consisted of three identically appearing tablets taken daily: ascorbic acid 500 mg, a-tocopherol (vitamin E) 400 IU, and selenium 50 mg.
- Key limitation
- The intervention lasted only 4 months, so longer-term clinical impact and durability are unknown.
View source
Open PDFOriginal abstract
Oxidative stress and low-grade systemic inflammation may contribute to the pathogenesis of obesity-induced comorbidities, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Increasing intake of dietary antioxidants might be beneficial, but there are few dat…