Metabolic Risk Markers and Body Weight Are Decreased by Green-plant Supplementation in a Pilot Study With Overweight-to-obese Middle-aged Men.

Twenty healthy, non-vegetarian, non-smoking Caucasian men were included in the study. Inclusion criteria: men aged 40 to 70 years with a BMI of 25 to 35. Exclusion criteria: Metabolic disturbances, bariatric surgery, recent diet, food allergies or treatment with antibiotics. The study protocol was approved by the Ethical Committee of Lund University, Sweden (#2006/361).

The trial consisted of three periods: 1) diet-restriction period (one month) 2) stabilizing period (one month) 3) diet-restriction period with supplementation of thylakoids or placebo (one month). The two weight-losing periods included strict diet recommendation with -30 energy % (E%), and macronutrient composition: 55-65 E% carbohydrates, 10-15 E% protein and 25-35 E% fat. Sixty minutes of low intensive exercise per day was also required.

During the stabilizing month participants were instructed to eat a healthy diet to be able to keep their achieved weight-loss.

Day 0, 28, 56 and 84 the participants arrived after 12-hour fasting for blood sampling and anthropometric measurements. The blood samples were analyzed for plasma-glucose, insulin, HbA1c, inflammation markers, cholecystokinin, ghrelin, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and triacylglycerol.