Effects of Spirulina supplementation in patients with ulcerative colitis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial
What this study found
Spirulina showed a mixed but overall favorable signal: total antioxidant capacity increased significantly and malondialdehyde decreased, while health-related quality of life improved, but disease activity and inflammatory markers did not clearly improve. In the Spirulina group, TAC improved versus baseline and versus placebo (β = 0.83, 95% CI 0.60 to 1.10, p < 0.001), MDA decreased within-group (p = 0.01) and favored Spirulina between groups (p < 0.001), and SIBDQ improved within-group (p = 0.05). SCCAI, ESR, and PTX-3 were not convincingly improved overall. Mild bloating occurred in 5 of 36…
- Study & population
- Double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial in adults 18 to 65 years old with active mild to moderate ulcerative colitis receiving standard medical care in Kermanshah, Iran.
- Intervention
- Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) was given as oral capsules at 500 mg twice daily before lunch and dinner, for a total dose of 1 g/day, for 8 weeks, as an adjunct to standard therapy versus placebo.
- Key limitation
- Single-center trial with a small sample size and short 8-week duration, which limits confidence in clinical disease outcomes.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
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). 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. 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). 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.