Effect of Cornus mas L. fruit extract on blood pressure, anthropometric and body composition indices in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A double-blind randomized controlled trial

Background & aims: Obesity is linked to the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Patients with NAFLD are at increased risk for hypertension. Some investigations have hypothesized that Cornus mas L. fruit can improve obesity and hypertension. We investigated the effect of C. mas L. fruit extract on blood pressure, anthropometric and body composition indices in patients with NAFLD.

Methods: This 12-week double-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted on fifty patients with NAFLD. Patients received 20 cc/d C. mas L. fruit extract or placebo. We measured diastolic blood pressure (DBP), systolic blood pressure (SBP), weight, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body fat mass (BFM), body fat percent (BFP) and fat free mass (FFM) before and after intervention.

Results: Treatment group compared to control group showed a significant reduction in DBP (-8.62 ± 11.86 mmHg vs. 0.53 ± 8.53 mmHg; P_crude = 0.003; P_adjucted = 0.03) and SBP (-8.63 ± 14.37 mmHg vs. 0.0 ± 12.67 mmHg; P_crude = 0.02; P_adjucted = 0.02). We found no difference between groups in weight, WC, HC, WHR, BFM, BFP and FFM (P > 0.05). After adjusting for confounding factors, a significant reduction was observed in treatment group compared to control group in BFM (-0.2 ± 3.9 kg vs. 0.7 ± 2.4 kg; P = 0.01) and BFP (-0.2 ± 4.9% vs. 0.8 ± 2.8%; P = 0.02).

Conclusions: C. mas L. fruit extract statistically reduced blood pressure and body fat. However, it had no effect on other anthropometric and body composition indices. Studies with larger sample sizes and higher dosages of extract are needed.

Trial registration: Registered on 30/9/2018 at Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT20180419039359N1 (https://www.irct.ir/trial/30707).