Arnebia euchroma ointment can reduce abdominal fat thickness and abdominal circumference of overweight women: A randomized controlled study

Marham-Mafasel decrease joint inflammation and IL-1β gene expression in rheumatoid arthritis animal model

Background

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic chronic disease with synovial membrane, tendon and articular tissue inflammation. Current treatments of RA have many side effects and are quite expensive. Today, new treatments procedures and inexpensive herbal drugs are developed. Marham‐Mafasel is mainly made out of two traditional herbs (Arnebia euchroma and Martricaria chamomilla).

Objective

In this study, for the first time, the impact of Marham‐Mafasel on joint inflammation, histopathological changes and IL‐1β gene expression was evaluated in RA animal model.

Methods

The RA was induced by a single s.c. injection of 0.1 ml Freund's complete adjuvant into the left hind footpad. In continuous, 15 RA male Wistar rats were used in three groups: I: Control; II: Treatment I (Piroxicam) and III: Treatment II (Marham‐Mafasel). The volume of the hind paw was measured every day from 0 to 19 using water changed volume approach. The inflammation in the joint was evaluated using histopathology assay and gene expression of IL‐1β was evaluated with use of Real‐Time PCR.

Results

Hind paw swelling of Marham‐Mafasel at days 10th and 19th was reduced compared with the control group (p < 0.05). There was no statistically difference in histological degrading and changes index in three groups (p ≥ 0.05). Relative expression of IL‐1β in Marham‐Mafasel group was significantly decreased compared with other groups.

Conclusion

The co‐administration of M. Chamomile and A. euchroma, called Marham‐Mafasel, decreases IL‐1β gene expression that leads to a reduction in inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) animal model.

Benefits of 10 weeks of high-intensity interval training and green tea supplementation on cardiovascular risk factors and VO2max in overweight women

Background

Considered the increasing rate of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and a positive relationship between prevalence of CVDs and obesity, the goal of the present study was to investigate the effects of green tea supplement and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on lipid panel, fibrinogen, and maximal oxygen consumption (VO_2max) in overweight women.

Materials and Methods

In this randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial, 30 overweight women (age range, 20-30 years), were chosen purposefully and randomly divided into three equal groups (green tea, HIIT + green tea, and HIIT + placebo), and they trained HIIT workouts for 10 weeks (40-m maximal shuttle run) and used 500 mg/daily green tea or placebo tablets. Serum levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglyceride (TG), and plasma level of fibrinogen were assessed before and after the intervention in fasting state. To test the hypothesis of the research, Paired t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, analysis of covariance, and Tukey's post hoc tests were used at the significance level of P ≤ 0.05.

Results

After 10 weeks, TG, LDL, weight, fibrinogen, and body fat percentage decreased in all groups (P ≤ 0.05). Further, HDL (P = 0.012) and VO_2max (P = 0.007) significantly increased in HIIT + green tea and HIIT + placebo groups; while in the green tea group, HDL (P = 0.06) and VO_2max (P = 0.06) showed no significant difference for within group differences. Average between-group variations of all indicators were statistically significant, and they were more meaningfully pronounced in HIIT + green tea group than the other two groups (P ≤ 0.05).

Conclusion

Based on the findings, the combination of HIIT and green tea consumption significantly leads to a reduction in weight, body fat percentage, fibrinogen, TG, and LDL while improves VO_2max and HDL levels rather than green tea consumption or performing training alone, in overweight women. However, it seems that exercise training has a vital role in the improvement of mentioned variables according to percentage changes.