Histidine supplementation improves insulin resistance through suppressed inflammation in obese women with the metabolic syndrome: a randomised controlled trial

Study answer

What this study found

Histidine supplementation improved insulin resistance and several obesity-related, inflammatory, and oxidative stress markers over 12 weeks. In the histidine group, HOMA-IR decreased from 3.7.1 to 3.0.1, BMI from 30.9.4 to 30.0.1 kg/m2, waist circumference from 96.1.2 to 93.4.4 cm, and NEFA from 946.38.8 to 773.403.3 mol/l. Adiponectin increased from 8.0.5 to 10.5.6 ng/ml, while TNF- and IL-6 declined from 12.2.4 to 8.2.2 pg/ml and from 6.2.1 to 4.0.3 pg/ml, respectively; SOD and GSH-Px increased. No adverse events were observed.

Study & population

Randomized controlled trial in obese adult women with metabolic syndrome from Harbin, China.

Intervention

Histidine was given as oral L-histidine tablets at a total dose of 4 g/day, administered as two 1 g tablets after breakfast and two tablets after dinner for 12 weeks.

Key limitation

The analyzed sample was modest (47 histidine and 45 placebo participants), and follow-up was only 12 weeks.

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Original abstract