English abstract
The study investigated the effects of pomegranate juice intake on adult volunteers with type 2 diabetes mellitus compared with normal healthy subjects. Nine healthy control subjects (3 males and 6 females; age 22-52 years) and 7 patients with type 2 diabetes (5 males and 2 females; age 41-62 years old) enrolled in the study. Volunteers were given 100 ml of Omani pomegranate juice (PJ) daily (except on weekends) for six weeks (phase 1), separated by a washout period of 16 weeks, followed by another 3 weeks as the second phase of the study. One normal control and two diabetic volunteers withdrew from phase 2 of the study. At baseline, and at the end of each phase, 25 ml of fasting blood samples were collected for measurement of relevant biomarkers, Statistical analysis of the results employed non parametric t-test, and a value of p < 0.05 was considered significant. The levels of fasting blood sugar were non-significant for the controls and diabetics in the two study phases. The consumption of PJ for 6 weeks in Phasel showed a non significant increase in glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in the controls by 0.51% versus a reduction by 1.69% in the diabetic volunteers. However, in Phase 2, HbAIC significantly increased in controls by 3.06% (5.29 +0.12% to 5.45 +0.13%) versus a non-significant increase by 0.82% in diabetic volunteers from 7.38 +0.39% to 7.44 0.39%. Insignificant reductions in blood pressure in both control and diabetic volunteers were observed by the end of 6 weeks of PJ consumption in phase 1, but a non-significant increase was noticed in the control groups after they had consumed PJ for only 3 weeks in phase 2. However, all these changes were within normal limits. No significant differences in lipid profile in the diabetic volunteers were noted; nonetheless, in the control group, a significant increase (p < 0.05) in serum Apo A by 20.99% from 1.10+ 0.05 g/l to 1.32 = 0.06 g/l in Phase 1, and a significant reduction (p < 0.05) in serum LDL by 10.42% (3.06 +0.22 mmol/l to 2.75 +0.22 mmol/l) were recorded in the control group at the end of phase 2 of the study. Consumption of pomegranate juice did not have significant changes in liver enzymes for both study groups. Similarly, no significant changes in kidney function tests were recorded, except in the level of blood urea, which was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) by 16.73% by the end of phase 2 in the control group from 4.43 +0.40 mmol/l to 3.61 +0.24 mmol/l. No significant changes in serum total antioxidant status (TAS) were observed in both groups of volunteers, in both phases of the study,
