Comparative Analysis of Therapeutic Potential of Carom, Turmeric and Caraway Seeds among Overweight Adults

Abstract

Background: Obesity and associated conditions (hypertension, pre-diabeties, type 2 diabeties, PCOS)  have become major health issue, ranking as fifth leading cause of death around the world. According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.9 billion adults are overweight and 650 million are obese, while in Pakistan its prevalence is 20%. However spices have the oldest history in the prevention and cure of many diseases (Diabetes, Hypertension, CVD etc.). Carom seed, turmeric and caraway are rich in phytochemical that exert lots of health benefits on the body (anti-oxidant, anti-cancerous, anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity).Aim of study:The purpose of the current study is to determine how various spices (carom, turmeric, caraway seed) affect the management of overweight. The main objective of the study is to compare individual and combined effects of carom seed, turmeric, and caraway seeds on overweight individuals. Methods:For this purpose, eighty overweight adults (25-45 years) were selected according to inclusion/exclusion criteria then divided into four groups having twenty persons in each group. All four groups were given treatments (T0, T1, T2, T3) carom seed powder (twice a day), turmeric powder (twice a day), and caraway seed powder (twice a day), and a combination of all (5:3:5) respectively. The trial duration was of about five weeks with two follow-ups (before and after the trial). Anthropometric measurements like body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), skin fold thickness, fat mass, and biochemical parameters including lipid profile, and random blood glucose was taken before and after trials. Statistical analysis was done by using statistic 8.1 software. The overall crude protein, moisture, crude fiber, ash and nitrogen free extract were measured by proximate analysis. Results:The chemical analysis of T2 shows significant results for NFE and moisture (67.9±0.62, 11.72±0.45), T1 shows significant results for protein(36.5±0.54) while maximum fiber value was for T3(53.8±0.41). Significant reduction (p<0.05) in the body weight, BMI, WHR, and skin fold thickness was observed in the treatment level T3 (72.2kg), (28.7g/kg), (0.773) and (16.3mm) as compared to other treatments. Similar trends were also observed in lipid profile such as total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, triglycerides (212.3mg/dl; 129.6mg/dl; 162.0mg/dl) and increase in high density lipoprotein (45.6mg/dl) was observed in T3 group followed by T1, T0, andT2. T3 shows significant results in the reduction of body weight.