Mangosteen juice could protect health in the obese

Mangosteen juice has anti-inflammatory properties which could prove to be valuable in preventing the development of heart disease and diabetes in obese patients. A study, published in BioMed Central's open access Nutrition Journal, describes how the juice of the exotic 'superfruit' lowered levels of C-reactive protein.

Dr. Jay Udani, M.D. from Medicus Research, California, worked with a team of researchers to carry out a randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial. He said, "For people drinking over half a liter of mangosteen juice a day, the degree of reduction in CRP levels was statistically significant - a reduction of 1.33mg/L compared to an increase of 0.9mg/L in the placebo group".

Inflammation, as measured here by CRP, is a predictor of cardiovascular disease and a precursor of metabolic syndrome. Reducing inflammation in obese people is a treatment goal, and a natural treatment may be preferable to other treatments which may carry the risk of side effect. According to Udani, "Further studies with a larger population are required to confirm and further define the benefits of this juice, which was safe at all dosages tested".

More information: Evaluation of Mangosteen juice blend on biomarkers of inflammation in obese subjects: a pilot, dose finding study. Jay K Udani, Betsy B Singh, Marilyn L Barrett and Vijay J Singh, Nutrition Journal (in press), http://www.nutritionj.com/

Source: BioMed Central (news : web)

   

• paul144 - Oct 21, 2009
  • Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
  Nothing can be concluded about the role of mangosteen constituents from this study. This study is not a peer-approved clinical trial, but rather a preliminary pilot experiment in humans, with poor design.
  
  First, other variables of diet and life activity apparently were not controlled in the subjects over the 8 week study period, confounding any possible conclusion about the specific effects of one small diet component -- twice daily intake of juice -- on the biomarker assessed.
  
  Second, the commercial juice tested, XanGo, is a composition of 9 juices, among which are fruits (grape, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, cranberry and cherry) each having evidence for anti-inflammatory activity in lab studies.
  
  This study contributes nothing to our understanding of mangosteen properties or this juice treatment, questioning whether rigorous editorial practices were applied to allow the report to be published.
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