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Treatment of ulcerative colitis with germinated barley foodstuff feeding: a pilot study
Author(s) -
Keiichi Mitsuyama,
T Saiki,
Osamu Kanauchi,
Toshihiko Iwanaga,
Nobuo Tomiyasu,
Tsutomu Nishiyama,
Hideo Tateishi,
Akira Shirachi,
Mizuki Ide,
Asuka Suzuki,
Kazunori Noguchi,
Hideo Ikeda,
Atsushi Toyonaga,
Michio Sata
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
alimentary pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.308
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1365-2036
pISSN - 0269-2813
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2036.1998.00432.x
Subject(s) - ulcerative colitis , medicine , gastroenterology , butyrate , short chain fatty acid , colitis , food science , disease , fermentation , chemistry
Background Germinated barley foodstuff (GBF) has been shown to attenuate intestinal injury in animal models, largely by increasing luminal short‐chain fatty acid production. Aim To investigate the safety and efficacy of GBF in the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods Ten patients with active UC received 30 g of GBF daily for 4 weeks in an open‐label treatment protocol while the baseline anti‐inflammatory therapy was continued. The response to treatment was evaluated clinically and endoscopically. Pre‐ and post‐treatment stool concentrations of short‐chain fatty acids were measured by gas‐liquid chromatography. Results Patients showed improvement in their clinical activity index scores, with a significant decrease in the score from 6.9 ± 1.4 to 2.8 ± 1.5 (mean ± S.E.M., P < 0.05). The endoscopic index score fell from 6.1 ± 2.3 to 3.8 ± 2.3 ( P < 0.0001). Patients showed an increase in stool butyrate concentrations after GBF treatment ( P < 0.05). No side‐effects were observed. Conclusions Oral GBF therapy may have a place in management of ulcerative colitis, but controlled studies are needed to demonstrate its efficacy in the treatment of this disorder.