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.
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.
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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 data in obese children. To examine the effect of antioxidant supplementation on biomarkers of oxidative stress, inflammation, and liver function, we randomly assigned overweight or obese children and adolescents (n = 44; mean ± SD age: 12.7 ± 1.5 y) participating in a lifestyle modification program to a 4-mo intervention with daily antioxidants (vitamin E, 400 IU; vitamin C, 500 mg; selenium, 50 μg) or placebo. We measured anthropometrics, antioxidant status, oxidative stress (F(2)-isoprostanes, F(2)-isoprostane metabolites), inflammation, liver enzymes, fasting insulin and glucose, and lipid profile at baseline and endpoint. There was a significant treatment effect of antioxidant supplementation on antioxidant status [α-tocopherol, β = 23.2 (95% CI: 18.0, 28.4); ascorbic acid, β = 70.6 (95% CI: 51.7, 89.4); selenium, β = 0.07 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.12)] and oxidative stress [8-iso-prostaglandin F2α, β = -0.11 (95% CI: -0.19, -0.02)] but not on any of the inflammatory markers measured. There was a significant treatment effect on alanine aminotransferase [β = -0.13 (95% CI: -0.23, -0.03)], a trend toward a significant effect on aspartate aminotransferase [β = -0.04 (95% CI: -0.09, 0.01)], and no significant effect on γ-glutamyltransferase [β = -0.03 (95% CI: -0.11, 0.06)]. In summary, antioxidant supplementation for 4 mo improved antioxidant-oxidant balance and modestly improved liver function tests; however, it did not reduce markers of systemic inflammation despite significant baseline correlations between oxidative stress and inflammation. The study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01316081.