TITLE:
Immunomodulatory Activities of a Concentrated Fruit and Vegetable Juice Tested in a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Clinical Trial in Healthy Volunteers
AUTHORS:
Manfred Schmolz, Reinhard W. März, Marco Schaudt, Cornelia Schaudt, Carola Lauster
KEYWORDS:
Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial; Ex Vivo; Cytokine; Juice Concentrate
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.5 No.4,
February
11,
2014
ABSTRACT: 22 healthy volunteers were included in a randomized, placebo-controlled
pilot study in order to investigate immunomodulatory effects of a concentrated
juice, containing the ingredients of a total of 80 different fruits, vegetables,
herbs, mushrooms, oils, and others (Cellagon aurum?, “CA”). 11
subjects received the concentrated juice while 11 were allocated to the placebo
group. Stimulated whole-blood cultures were
used to assess any treatment-related changes in the response of leukocytes
towards experimental immune cell activation. For each of the individuals, 5
cultures were performed either immediately before, during, or 3 days after
termination of the 7 weeks treatment. Leukocyte activities were determined by
measuring cytokine levels in the supernatants at the end of the 48 h of
stimulation (induced by the addition of LPS + SE-B + anti-CD28 antibodies). Despite the relatively small number of volunteers, multiplexed cytokine
assays revealed a typical T-cell signature of cytokines that were increased
significantly in the course of CA treatment compared to placebo (GM-CSF, IFNγ, IL-4, IL-10, IL-17, TNFβ, all p 0.05). These preliminary results suggest that CA is able
to support leukocyte activation, in particular that of T-lymphocytes.