Efficacy of Tamarindus Indica Fruit Juice in Optimizing Cardiometabolic Health of Patients Living With HIV and Elevated Triglycerides

Suboptimal cardiometabolic health is on a disproportional rise in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), cardiometabolic dysfunction is being exacerbated by the ongoing nutrition transition, that has seen a change from traditional diets to fast and ultra processed foods rich in sugar, fats, and salt coupled by low physical activity (Kiyimba et al., 2022). Similarly, chronic inflammatory diseases such as HIV can aggravate cardiometabolic risks (Todowedo et al., 2019). Beyond conventional nutrients, fruits and vegetables have ubiquitous amounts of bioactive components including polyphenols, alkaloids, saponins, and terpenes and terpenoids, with polyphenols being the most ubiquitous of all. Dietary polyphenols are a diverse category of secondary plant metabolites that represent the largest group of naturally occurring antioxidants with cardioprotective benefits (Rijha et al., 2022 and Quero et al., 2020). Our recent inventory study of Uganda's IFV with purported cardiometabolic benefits, highlighted the popularity of Tamarindus indica as a local adjuvant therapy for cardiometabolic risks among Ugandan communities (Kiyimba et al., 2023).

T. indica, is a leguminous tree belonging to the family Fabaceae with a wide range of bioactive constituents in varying levels- the highest being polyphenols followed by alkaloids, saponins, and terpenoids in that order (Luca et al., 2019 and Penev et al., 2016). Therefore, the aim of this trial is to evaluate the efficacy of T. indica fruit juice (added to patients' usual diets) on selected cardiometabolic risk markers of PLWH under the community-based HIV care model in Uganda in a proof-of-concept clinical trial. Two blinded juice prototypes of 10% and 30% fruit pulp packaged in amber bottles each consisting of 300mls will be supplied by the Uganda Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Institute.

This is a single centre, 2-arm, 4 weeks randomised, double-blinded parallel trial with equal allocation ratios. The study participants will be randomly allocated to consume twice-daily 600 mL of either 10% or 30% pulp of T. indica fruit juice. Both participants and the study team will be blinded to the intervention materials. Measurements will be performed at three different timelines: Baseline, Week two of the study, and Endline (week four of the study). Compliance to the study protocol will be confirmed by weekly telephone inquiries, and by counting the returned empty juice bottles or unused study products at each follow-up visit. Participants will be asked to maintain their habitual dietary regimen. The two juice prototypes will be blinded by assigning a secret code to each of the intervention products. As such, blinding of the investigators and participants will be undertaken to ensure a double-blind intervention. Moreover, the statistical analyses of the main endpoints will be done before breaking the intervention product concealment.