Red Palm Oil Supplementation Aids Liver Disease Patients, Study Shows

13 Apr 2016 --- Red palm oil supplementation has been found to reduce lipid peroxidation and monocyte tissue factor in chronic liver disease patients.

A randomized, controlled study has revealed that supplementation with red palm oil (RPO, enriched with high levels of tocotrienols, tocopherols and carotenoids) decreases lipid peroxidation and endotoxemia (the presence of heat stable toxin derived from certain gram negative bacteria in the blood), production of inflammatory cytokines, and monocyte tissue factor (TF) in chronic liver disease patients.

In this study, 60 patients with mean age of 62-year-old with Child A/B genotype 1 HCV-related cirrhosis with no history of alcoholic beverages consumption were recruited. The patients were randomly assigned to receive either 300mg vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol acetate) or 15 gram RPO supplementation for 8 weeks. Blood parameters such as circulating endotoxin, plasma endotoxin-inhibiting capacity, macrophage-colony stimulating factor (M-CSF), urinary isoprostane-F2α-III, and monocyte TF activity, erythrocyte malondialdehyde (MDA) were examined after 2nd, 4th and 8th week. Liver ultrasound imaging was carried out to examine liver steatosis.

Both RPO and vitamin E tocopherol-supplemented groups did not demonstrate any change in level of endotoxin and plasma endotoxin-inhibiting capacity. However, they led to significant reduction in erythrocyte malondialdehyde and urinary isoprostane- F2α-III when compared to baseline.

Compared with vitamin E tocopherol-supplementation, RPO-supplemented group showed significant improvement in oxidative stress via decrease in M-CSF level and monocyte TF activity following 4th and 8th week of supplementation respectively. Additionally, the RPO-supplemented group showed tendency towards lowering erythrocyte MDA level more significantly than vitamin E tocopherol-supplemented group.

No changes were observed in liver ultrasound images for both RPO and vitamin E groups.

“Oxidative stress plays a key role in the progression of chronic liver diseases. Serum M-CSF is mostly secreted inflammatory cytokine while monocyte TF activity is strongly associated with the production of endotoxemia among patients diagnosed with chronic liver failure. Both M-CSF and monocyte TF activity take part in pathophysiology of oxidative stress. The good news is consumption of RPO, with wholesome array of tocotrienols, tocopherols and carotenoids help in ameliorating chronic liver diseases with decreased level of plasma M-CSF and monocyte TF activity, as demonstrated in this study,” CheeYen Lau, Nutritionist at ExcelVite said.

“While the study uses red palm oil, it may not be convenient for consumers to take 15g of the oil on a daily basis. Not to mention the ingestion of high amount of oil. ExcelVite has developed and launched EVSpectra – a natural red palm oil concentrate consisting of a mixture of full spectrum tocotrienols (alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-tocotrienols), tocopherols and carotenoids.”

“The ratio of total vitamin E (Tocotrienols / Tocopherols) to total mixed carotenoids is 2: 1, which is exactly the same as found in red palm oil but it is 100 times more concentrated than the regular red palm oil. EVSpectra is suitable for formulation into softgel or liquid capsules. Hence, all the unique health beneficial phytonutrients of red palm oil are concentrated into one single extract (“EVSpectra”) for ease of formulation and supplementation of dietary supplements as well as food products to support healthy liver functions,” said Bryan See, Regional Product Manager, ExcelVite.