Eficacia de la suplementación nutricional con Caralluma fimbriata en la reducción del síndrome metabólico durante el climaterio

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity and visceral fat excess are normally related to high blood pressure and increased plasmatic glucose and serum lipid levels. The growing prevalence of those cardiometabolic risk factors is promoting the development of drugs and dietary supplements, in order to control and treat them. Products containing Caralluma fimbriata have already been tested in some prior clinical trials and are proposed to help in weight loss and stabilization of physiological variables. Objectives: Evaluate the efficacy of a dietary supplement (OBEX®) on body composition and physiolo - gical status of women in climateric phase. Methods: The sample consisted of 44 women (25 pre - menopausal; 19 postmenopausal women) who resided in the county of Madrid, with a body mass index over 25 kg/m2 and ages between 35 and 62 years old. After signing an informed consent form, all participants were subjected to a treatment of 8g a day (OBEX®) (3g/day of caralluma fimbriata) during two months. At both the beginning and the end of the treatment, height, weight, waist and hip umbilical perimeters, thickness of subcutaneous folds and body composition by electrical impedance (TANITA®600) were measured. body mass index and waist-hip ratio were estimated and both blood cholesterol and glucose levels as well as blood pressure were assessed. Results: After two months of treatment, 52.78% of participants had lost weight resulting in an average weight loss of 1.86Kg. Premenopausal women had significantly decreased the thickness of their bicipital (3.3mm), subscapular (2.5mm) and suprailiac (3.1mm) skinfolds. Besides, postmenopausal women had reduced their bicipital (1.2mm), tricipital (2.3mm), subs - capular (2.0mm) and suprailiac (3.1mm) skinfolds and had increased their trunk muscle mass (0.5 Kg). In both groups the amount of women classified with abdominal obesity by means of waist-hip ratio decreased, in addition to a lowering in the prevalence of high blood pressure, hypercholesterolemia and hyperglycemia. Discussion: The weigth loss and muscle mass profit obtained using supplements containing Caralluma fimbriata, could help to decrease cardiovascular risk facts during menopause, at least employing the dose submitted in this work, greater than that used in previous studies, some of which also report a significant reduction in the analyzed anthropometric and physiological variables. Conclusions: The obtained results with the intake of the supplement OBEX® (containing 3g/day of Caralluma fimbriata) are promising for the treatment of central obesity and prevention of metabolic syndrome in climacteric women. However, it is necessary to carry out larger significance studies to verify its efficacy, employing a bigger sample and controlling variables such as diet and physical activity.