Effect of carrageenan food supplement on patients with cardiovascular disease results in normalization of lipid profile and moderate modulation of immunity system markers

• A carrageenan food supplement brings about the decrease in the level of cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol.
• Supplementation with carrageenans produces moderate modulation of all links of the immunity.
• The food supplement causes decrease in the biomarkers of chronic inflammation (amount of leucocytes and fibrinogen, C-reactive protein).

The present study determines the effects of a short-term carrageenan supplement on the immune status and lipid profile in patients with ischemic heart disease. The immunomodulatory and hypocholesterolaemic effects of a carrageenan food supplement were investigated in 40 hypercholesterolaemic patients with cardiovascular heart disease who were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups, and 20 apparently healthy subjects who were assigned to the normal group. Supplementation with carrageenans did not induce hyperactivation of the immune system. Carrageenans moderately modulated all of the immunity system markers and caused statistically significant decreases in the following biomarkers of chronic inflammation: leucocytes by 15.9%, fibrinogen by 8.62%, and C-reactive protein by 13.03%. Supplementation with carrageenans significantly decreased cholesterol levels by 16.5% and low density lipoprotein cholesterol by 33.5%. In the group of patients under traditional treatment, the amount of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased insignificantly by 6.2% and 10.7%, respectively. The atherosclerotic index, which was rather high in the control group, decreased significantly by 36.6% after the addition of the carrageenan food supplement.

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